Take Your Seats! The Oscar Issue Is About to Begin
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In a year when box-office mega-hits like Barbie and Oppenheimer are also being recognized by peers for their cultural impact and artistic accomplishments, THR gives Barbenheimer — Hollywood’s favorite power couple — flowers as it delves into the hoopla surrounding the Academy Awards. Read about the second coming of elusive wunderkind Megan Ellison; where to put your statuette if you want to keep winning; why Academy lawyers love to sue; how Oscar song ‘Over the Rainbow’ came under a cloud; and 11 leading artists, commissioned by The Hollywood Reporter, offering their unique twist on the industry’s perennial golden boy.
CONTENTS
Pop Art Icon Kenny Scharf and 10 Other Artists Reinvent the Oscar for THR
Jimmy Kimmel Talks Oscar Plans, Late Night Future and the Return of His “Muse” Donald Trump
And the Oscar Goes to … Pigs in a Blanket! Hollywood’s Favorite Awards Season Hors d’Oeuvres
Where to Put Your Oscar? Feng Shui Experts Have Strong Opinions
Sacheen Littlefeather’s Native Ancestry Claim Just Got a Little More Complicated
Follow That Envelope! What Happens to the Cards That Reveal the Oscar Winners?
Awards Season Superlatives: The Good, the Bad and the Bathwater
Pop Art Icon Kenny Scharf and Other Artists Reinvent the Oscar
THR asked 11 leading painters, sculptors and performance artists to create their own renditions of Hollywood’s favorite golden boy in an exclusive portfolio, which will be unveiled at Hollywood’s Jeffrey Deitch Gallery on March 9. • By Michael Slenske
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Christian Friedel on 'The Zone of Interest': Finding Humanity Amid the Horror
Messi the Dog, 'Anatomy of a Fall' Star and New Hollywood Darling, Expected to Miss Oscars
Paul Giamatti Would Rather Talk About Bigfoot and UFOs Than Pretty Much Anything Else
To kick off our annual Oscars Issue, The Hollywood Reporter commissioned 11 leading artists — spanning North America, from L.A. to Guadalajara to New York City — to reinterpret the iconic Oscar statuette in paintings, drawings, sculptures, conceptual photography and performance. Their multimedia works, exclusively on display on these pages, will also be the subject of a special Oscar Week exhibition at the Jeffrey Deitch Gallery in Hollywood, opening March 9. We asked each artist to give their own version of an Academy Awards speech, with a behind-the-scenes look at what inspired their glittering creations. As Kenny Scharf, the Los Angeles native whose art has defined New York City since the ’80s, succinctly puts it: “I want to thank everyone who ever helped me. Oh, it’s not for me. Byyeeee …” Shortest acceptance speech ever!
Jimmy Kimmel Talks Oscars Plans, Late Night Future and the Return of His “Muse” Donald Trump
The four-time host and his wife, producer Molly McNearney, talk about courting cameos, ideal audience members and why they just can’t quit the Oscars.• By Lacey Rose
As Jimmy Kimmel sees it, hosting the Oscars is a lot like taking a plane trip.
“You don’t think too much about it if it went well,” he explains. “If it was terrible, you tell everyone you know about it — the turbulence, the delay, how long you had to sit in the airport waiting.” Kimmel, who will be emceeing for his fourth time, concludes, “We just want a flight that’s on time and cocktails are served and nobody throws up.”
Brutally Honest Ballot!
This member of the Academy’s short films and feature animation branch also says that Oppenheimer “makes me sad that one day I’m going to die, because I won’t get to see movies like this.” • Anonymous, as told to Scott Feinberg
Best Picture: I would have preferred to see Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse as a nominee over Maestro — it’s an incredible feat of animation and storytelling. American Fiction and The Holdovers were enjoyable, but very old-fashioned — meaning, not edgy — in terms of their stories and their filmmaking. When I first heard about Barbie, I couldn’t even imagine that it would be here, and then after seeing it I couldn’t imagine that it wouldn’t, and that’s because Greta [Gerwig] nailed it. Killers of the Flower Moon had a lot of great stuff in it, but no movie needs to be three hours and 25 minutes — like me, a lot of people had to watch it at home, and unlike me, a lot of people probably didn’t make it to the end. If it was made by anyone other than Martin Scorsese, a studio would have said, “You’ve got to cut that, we don’t need to see the landscape for two and a half minutes.” But I guess he earned that. Past Lives was beautifully simplistic — I love movies like this, that tell you a human story, have so much going on beneath the surface and really don’t have an antagonist other than time and space. Poor Things is some of Yorgos [Lanthimos’] best work, the whole cast was phenomenal, and I can’t wait to see it again. Anatomy of a Fall grew on me over time — that monologue where Sandra Hüller tears her husband apart is just incredible. But for me, choosing between Oppenheimer and The Zone of Interest was so hard.
Sterling K. Brown’s Red Carpet Playbook: Trad Tailoring, Bright Colors, No Fragrance
“I try to look good in these dadgum suits,” says the Oscar-nominated ‘American Fiction’ actor and awards season style standout of his anything-but-flashy aesthetic. • By Brande Victorian
Sterling K. Brown doesn’t like drawing attention to himself, especially when it comes to fashion. But since earning his first Oscar nomination for best supporting actor for his role in Cord Jefferson’s comedy-drama American Fiction, even more eyes have been on the three-time Emmy-winning TV and film star.
“I’ll be honest with you, it is at times a bit overwhelming, especially when it comes to clothes and all the gear,” says Brown, 47, whose awards season obligations pile on by the day. “You can’t just go back and get your same suit every time. You’ve got to come with a fit that’s got a little bit of drip to it.”
Who Will Win Vs. Who Should Win at the Oscars
THR’s awards expert Scott Feinberg and chief film critic David Rooney hash out the likely winners versus the most deserving ahead of Sunday’s show. • By Scott Feinberg and David Rooney
Let’s start with….
And the Oscar Goes to … Pigs in a Blanket! Hollywood’s Fave Awards Season Hors d’Oeuvres
Appetites and appearances always are in conflict at awards season parties — and while strategies for sating oneself without looking like a slob vary in the land of Oscar and Ozempic, one bite is the favorite by far. • By Pamela McClintock & Mikey O’Connell
Glad-handing is a competitive sport, one that’s all but impossible to win with both paws buried in a seafood tower. Such is the eternal conundrum of the awards season party circuit. These are celebrations, sure, yet the pressure to network, posture and kiss any proverbial ring that may be offered so often undermines that most basic of human urges: to cobble together a meal from passed hors d’oeuvres — especially after enduring a three-hour screening or even longer awards show on an empty stomach. It shouldn’t be so hard! And, thankfully, it needn’t be. By keeping a few helpful tips in mind — and, when the moments arise, in hand — any industry party can be professionally productive and filling.
This Oscar Headline Might Get Us Sued
When it comes to protecting its name and trademark, nobody is more litigious than the Academy. Just ask the U.S. Postal Service. Or the poor guy on Etsy who paid $375,000 in damages • By Chris Nashawaty
If tradition holds, at some moment during this year’s Oscar telecast, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will dutifully thank its team of ballot-tabulating accountants at PricewaterhouseCoopers. But when it comes to the sheer number of billable hours racked up, the Academy might want to give a shout-out to its team of lawyers, too. They’ve certainly earned it over the years.
Make Way for Oscar Barbie!
She has her own stylist, a fashion Instagram account with 2.8M followers and a fully decked out closet at Mattel headquarters. Now, she’s getting ready for the biggest red carpet of them all. • By Nicole Fell and Mia Galuppo
There are drawers full of clutches, crossbody and tote bags, and lines of shoes that range from sneakers to over-the-knee heeled boots. In a separate cabinet are vintage pieces like a ’70s burnt orange toggle coat safely tucked away in plastic. On one of the worktables near a sewing machine is a sketch of a pink vest and pants set that were recently constructed for a photo shoot.
This fashion closet is the home base for an Instagram influencer with nearly 3 million followers on social media — Barbie.
The Second Coming of Megan Ellison?
With her billionaire dad’s backing and taste money can’t buy, she emerged as the town’s most celebrated champion of prestige filmmakers, then vanished after a run of bad bets and erratic behavior. Now back with the Academy Awards-nominated Nimona, will Hollywood’s most elusive producer stick around? • By Rebecca Keegan and Mia Galuppo
In early 2021, Megan Ellison emerged from a self-imposed Hollywood exile and did something she hadn’t done in over a year: She signed on to back a movie, Nimona. There was a time when this would not have been remarkable, when Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures was producing five films a year and she was considered the industry’s own Medici, the premier patron of prestige cinema. But Ellison had backed away from Hollywood in 2019 after a series of missteps and become elusive even to some of her own executives. When her former distribution chief, Erik Lomis, asked her whether she wanted to look at some reels of Nimona, which was about to get axed in Disney’s closure of Blue Sky Animation, “I wasn’t really engaging in new film projects at the time,” Ellison said, answering THR’s questions by email. “But being curious, I said yes.”
Where to Put Your Oscar? Feng Shui Experts Have (Strong) Opinions
Stay away from that bathroom! Home harmony pros dish on the best and worst places to perch an award and reveal the actor-producer whose decor is tailored for success: “No wonder she’s doing so well.” • By Mikey O’Connell
As Hollywood legend or, rather, a recycled talk show anecdote tells us, Kate Winslet keeps her best actress Academy Award for 2008’s The Reader in a guest bathroom. This location allows visitors some private time with Oscar — a chance to hold him, gaze in the mirror, maybe mouth the acceptance speech they’ll likely never give. But her statuette’s proximity to the toilet could be the reason Winslet has yet to win a second.
What Your Red Carpet Jewelry Says About You
The best new baubles — perfect for Oscar night — convey the wearer’s individual style, whether that’s modernist, romantic, classic or regal. • By Laurie Brookins
Check back on March 9 for the rest of the story.
Scandal in Oz: Was “Over the Rainbow” Plagiarized?
The Academy Award-winning ballad from The Wizard of Oz, indelibly performed by Judy Garland, is perhaps the most enduring melody ever to come out of Hollywood. But its uncanny similarity to a long-forgotten classical piece by a Nazi-era composer has some questioning its authorship. • By Anthony Tringali and Stephen Cox
Norwegian pianist Rune Alver carefully unfolded the brittle sheet music and began caressing the keys of the baby grand. He had found the classical piece buried in an archive and believed it hadn’t been heard in maybe a century. But as he delved into the second section, Cantando, he felt a shiver run down his spine. The melody wasn’t just reminiscent of something he’d heard before — it was iconic. He instantly recognized the unforgettable, yearning opening notes of “Over the Rainbow,” the Academy Award-winning anthem Judy Garland performed in The Wizard of Oz, perhaps the most famous song to come out of Hollywood. How could this be? The sheet music was dated 1910, and The Wizard of Oz premiered nearly 30 years later. But the melody hung there (“Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high …”). It was hauntingly similar. Too similar, he thought.
Paul Giamatti Would Rather Discuss Bigfoot
Since being nominated for an Oscar, the Holdovers star has tripled the audience of Chinwag, his podcast about the paranormal, esoteric and downright weird. Now Giamatti is planning an extended Chinwag universe. • By Chris Gardner
Like everyone else during the pandemic, Paul Giamatti found solace on Zoom. The veteran actor caught an online talk presented by Stephen Asma, an author and philosophy professor at Columbia College Chicago. Giamatti liked what Asma had to say about imagination and consciousness, so he did what any well-connected fan would do and reached out.
“We were Zooming when Zoom was a new thing. It was nice to chat with this guy, and we found each other having these longer and longer chats,” says Giamatti during a rare break from his best actor Oscar campaign for his role in Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers. “Stephen jokingly said, ‘We ought to do something with this.’ ” The joke then turned serious. To craft their pitch, they sent one of their chats to visual artist Alex Sokol, who added animation and striking images to represent things they bantered about, like aliens, UFOs and bigfoot. “We sat around thinking, ‘Who do we take it to?’ ” Giamatti says. It didn’t take long for them to zero in on the podcast pros at Treefort Media, which came on board to co-produce with Giamatti’s Touchy Feely Films.
Sacheen Littlefeather’s Claim to Native Ancestry Just Got a Little More Complicated
New research indicates the late activist, who controversially appeared at the 1973 Oscars and whose ethnicity has been called into question, may have had Indigenous ties after all • By Rebecca Sun
Nearly a year and a half ago, the late Sacheen Littlefeather became the face of Native identity fraud when skepticism about her background was publicized shortly after her death in October 2022. Now, one of her friends and former associates has come forward with genealogical records that indicate the activist best known for refusing Marlon Brando’s 1973 Oscar on his behalf may have had Indigenous ancestry after all.
How to Make an Iconic Oscar Dress From Scraps
Instagram star Angelica Hicks, who recently re-created Selena Gomez’s Emmys dress out of seaweed, puts together for THR four legendary red carpet looks worn by Zendaya, Cher, Bjork and Julia Roberts out of gaffer tape, tablecloths and pills for pearls. • By Max Berlinger
Few people better capture the sublimity and silliness of today’s red carpet spectacle than the artist Angelica Hicks.
The 31-year-old Brooklyn-based Brit started her career as a cheeky illustrator, making a name for herself with fashion drawings that featured winking wordplay, like a model wearing YSL logo earrings with the caption “Yves Dropping.” (Get it?)
But one day, on a whim, she took to Instagram to replicate a runway look she saw by cutting a hole in a shopping bag and wearing it as a squared-off top. Her ingenuity garnered enthusiastic online praise, so she continued, duplicating a model in a ruffled blouse and cloche hat using crumpled tissues and a mixing bowl. “The humor is in approximating the look as closely as possible,” Hick says. “So it’s this perfectionism mixed with the absurd and a little English deadpan.”
THR‘s 2024 Definitive Guide to Red Carpet Dressing
In: ballerina buns and mega-bright menswear. Out: ballgowns and trad tuxes. Everything you need to know for awards-season style. • By Merle Ginsberg
Hollywood’s regal red carpet is the rare symbol of ageless glamour — despite being born in 1922, for a premiere at the Egyptian Theatre. But this awards season, the slightly dusty rug has been shaken out and freshened up: It’s got a whole new face, a full facelift, as we say. New designers, actors, jewelry, styles, shapes, hairstyles — even lip colors — are replacing old standbys. Here are THR’s new red carpet rules — for those who still want to claim the world’s best-known runway as their domain.
Follow That Envelope! What Happens to the Cards That Reveal the Oscar Winners?
The many afterlives of the gilded Academy Awards souvenir. • By Beatrice Verhoeven
Gold statuettes may be the Oscars’ ultimate status symbol, but what of the envelopes that reveal the big winners? Three sets of cards, designed by Marc Friedland since 2011, are produced for each category — two of which are taken to the venue. Winners are allowed to keep their cards and envelopes. Those that are left behind, as well as extras, are recycled. But Friedland’s envelopes are meant to be keepsakes.
THR‘s Awards Season Superlatives: The Good, the Bad and the Bathwater
From “snubs” saturation point to the increasingly crass conversation around Barry Keoghan, THR looks back at the 2024 FYC narratives to remember … and forget. • By Mikey O’Connell
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