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In 2021, the gold men were awarded on a small scale due to the corona. This year the organizers want to go back to old size. Do they succeed?
Anthony Hopkins, Lady Gaga, John Travolta, Mila Kunis: The names of this year’s laudators are illustrious. Beyoncé and Billie Eilish are two of today’s biggest pop stars. And hosts Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall, who are set to heat up audiences at Hollywood’s traditional Dolby Theatre, are all about diversity.
Will Selenski have a say?
So back to carefree Oscar glamour? Not quite. Strict corona requirements apply again this year, nominees and guests must show proof of vaccination and negative tests. What’s more, the war in Ukraine overshadows the show.
There was a lot of speculation in the run-up to how the organizers would deal with it during the show. She would want to use the limelight for a serious message, moderator Amy Schumer said in advance. She suggested letting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speak via video, but ultimately it was not her decision.
Producer Will Packer left everything open at a press conference on Thursday. The show is still in the works. But he hopes that this will be a night to celebrate, to escape the “turbulent time around the world” for a few hours.
Sean Penn calls for a boycott
The Oscar winner and activist Sean Penn then called for a boycott of the gala on Saturday if it takes place without Selenski. In a CNN interview, the actor-director said that if Zelenski appeared on the show in front of an audience of millions, it would have been a great opportunity to speak. However, he fears that the film academy has not pursued this further. In this case, it would be “the most shameless moment in Hollywood history”.
Penn called for protests and a boycott of the gala if the film academy had actually failed to reach out to Zelensky, whose country had been attacked by Russia. He himself would publicly “melt down” his two Oscar statues in protest, Penn said. The actor had won two Oscars for the films “Mystic River” (2004) and “Milk” (2009).
“The Power of the Dog” is a big favourite
The visually powerful western drama “The Power of the Dog” can hope not for two, but for twelve gold men. It leads the Oscar field. New Zealander Jane Campion directs a queer story about two unlikely brothers who run a ranch together in Montana in the 1920s.
Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Kirsten Dunst are nominated in the acting categories. Campion could win in three categories: as director, producer and for the adapted screenplay. SRF film expert Philippe Klemenz also gives the Netflix production a good chance of winning the best film award.
The «Big Five» 2022
A total of ten candidates compete for the top Oscar, including the Japanese film “Drive my Car” and the studio films “West Side Story”, “Belfast”, “King Richard” and “Dune”.
The science fiction drama “Dune” by Canadian director Denis Villeneuve is the most nominated film after “The Power of the Dog” with ten chances of winning, especially in technical areas such as camera, editing and sound.