On Saturday morning, 93rd Oscars producers Jesse Collins, Stacey Sher and Steven Soderbergh held a virtual press conference in LA to discuss this year’s unprecedented broadcast. The trio was purposefully vague with details but also dropped enough promising hints to make the countdown to the show all the more exciting. Oscars 2021 Producers
“I know it’s not going to be like anything that has been done before exactly. So I’m leaning into that,” said Soderbergh.
Sher added, “I think movies are a large portion of how we have gotten through this incredibly difficult year. And I think you have to look at the films, as well, and they — whether they are period, whether they are contemporary, they are about the times that we live in. They are all Zeitgeist movies. They are beautiful, they are moving; sometimes they are painful. It’s like that proverb: In good times, in bad times, this too shall pass. And we need to have hope to move forward. So we have to acknowledge what we have been through, and the historic losses we have been through, but we also have to fight for cinema and and our love of it and the way it has gotten us through things.”
One of the biggest takeaways from the press conference was the in-person component of this year’s Oscars show. When asked if this could be an example for the world on how to move on, Sher had this to say — “that is possible, again, with vaccination, with social distancing, with masking, with us keeping everybody safe. And obviously what we are capable of doing at great expense can be done if people are widely vaccinated and maintain the scientific protocols.”
With social distancing and COVID-19 to think about, masks will “play a very important role” in the story that the ceremony is trying to convey. “If that is cryptic, it’s meant to be,” said Soderbergh. “But that topic is very central to the narrative.”
Equally intriguing was Soderbergh’s announcement on how different the Oscars was going to look and sound. “We are just trying to create an experience that has the aesthetics of a film, as opposed to a TV show.” Drummer, DJ, producer, author and founding member of hip hop group The Roots, Questlove will be the show’s musical director. “The whole thing, it’s going to sound different in terms of how Questlove is approaching the scoring of the show. So we just want the whole thing right out of the gate to announce itself as being different.”
Other exciting facts — The show will use “satellite hookups” in place of Zoom calls, the experience for the nominees will be completely unique, and for the viewer — it will be stunning, the presenters will be playing themselves, there won’t be a traditional red carpet, but there will be “a teeny tiny red carpet; and we are actually in the room — in the room — we are outside where the pre-show will take place, and where many of those conversations will happen. They are just going to happen in a more intimate way among the nominees,” Sher said.
Q: (Ellen at blackfilm.com) You recently announced 14 team members of the production team for the 93rd Oscars, seven of the 14 are African-American, three men, four women. Jesse, what was the impetus for this particular selection of new talent and show veterans?
A: (Jessie Collins) “I think it was about everybody being open to pulling in the best possible people. And AMPAAS and ABC and my partners here, everybody were open to new faces. And, you know, we are all coming. You know, it’s like, those people on that list are amazing. And it’s just great that we are — that I, like all of them, are getting an opportunity to be on such a show with such a large platform.”
We are glad to see that diversity is not only being reflected in front of the camera but behind the camera as well.
The 93rd Oscars will be held Sunday, April 25, 2021, at Union Station Los Angeles and the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and international locations via satellite. “Oscars: Into the Spotlight” will air live Oscar Sunday, April 25, on ABC at 6:30 p.m. EDT/3:30 p.m. PDT. “The Oscars” will be televised live on ABC at 8 p.m. EDT/5 p.m. PDT in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide. “Oscars: After Dark” will immediately follow the Oscars show.
Oscars 2021 Producers: “It’s Not Going To Be Like Anything That Has Been Done Before” Oscars 2021 Producers: “It’s Not Going To Be Like Anything That Has Been Done Before”
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