Get the popcorn ready, Sunday night we’ll be celebrating the Oscars again, gawk at the celebrities’ outfits, and see if we guessed the winners.
The juicy part of the ceremony starts at 6:30 p.m. Eastern. That’s when stars start to arrive and we get glimpses of who is wearing what. It’s always fun to see which of the celebrities have once again crashed through the modesty barrier– even more than last year– with the most daring outfits. The whole point for them is to create buzz and it never fails. The more skin they show, the more buzz they create.
A friendly reminder: Don’t forget that tonight we “spring ahead”, so set your clocks one hour ahead or you may miss this part of the event.
The main ceremony starts at 8 but live coverage starts in the afternoon for some channels.
The best actress category is the most anticipated. Will Michelle Yeoh win for her role in “Everything Everywhere” and make history as the first Asian woman to win the golden statuette?
Or will it be Cate Blanchett in “Tár”? Blanchett has won twice before, for “Blue Jasmine” and “The Aviator.” Their competition includes Andrea Riseborough, the star of “To Leslie,” an underdog contender whose grass-roots social-media campaign for the nomination was the subject of an academy investigation.
The supporting actor and actress categories are full of nostalgic favorites. Ke Huy Quan, nominated for “Everything Everywhere,” recently returned to acting decades after starring in “The Goonies” and “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” as a child. Judd Hirsch (“The Fabelmans”) is also in the running. He was nominated in 1981 for “Ordinary People.” Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) and Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything Everywhere”) are both nominated for best supporting actress. Bassett was nominated for “What’s Love Got to Do with It” in 1994. This is Jamie Lee Curtis’s first nomination though this may come as a surprise to many.
Rihanna will once again take center stage, after her controversial performance at the Super Bowl halftime show, slated to sing her nominated song, “Lift Me Up,” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” David Byrne will perform “This Is a Life” from “Everything Everywhere” with Son Lux and Stephanie Hsu, a nominee for best supporting actress.
More questions that will be answered, after much speculation: Will Fraser win for “The Whale”? Will there be another episode of people behaving badly—as we saw last year when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on live television? That controversy has buzzed for a year and just this week Chris Rock addressed it publicly with his Netflix standup routine in which he shredded Will and Jada.
And another question riveting fans: Will Austin Butler still speak in his Elvis voice?
And of course: who will take “the big one”: the Oscar for best picture:
Here is the list of nominees:
All Quiet on the Western Front, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Banshees of Inisherin,, Elvis, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fabelmans and Top Gun: Maverick.
And lastly, even if no celebrity makes history, the carpet will. Time to say goodbye to the red and welcome in the yellow.
