Cream of the crop: Oscars roll out the red carpet for star quality

By Sarah Jamieson TV Media

Millions of movie lovers and entertainment professionals tune in to the Oscars each year, cheering on the year’s achievements in filmmaking. The 90th Annual Academy Awards, hosted once more by Jimmy Kimmel (“Jimmy Kimmel Live!”), airs live on ABC on Sunday, March 4.

Though the 89th Academy Awards ceremony is a whole year gone, no one has forgotten the Best Picture incident, when “La La Land” was mistakenly announced as the winner of the coveted award. The error was quickly corrected and “Moonlight” received the Oscar as due, but the blunder is now infamous. The snafu haunts Kimmel to this day — a promo video shows his nightmares and sudden phobia of envelopes.

Nevertheless, ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey has great faith in bringing back Kimmel to host the event for a second time. “After just one year, we can’t imagine anyone else hosting the Oscars,” he said in a statement. “Jimmy’s skillful command of the stage is invaluable on a night when anything can happen — and does.”

This year, “The Shape of Water” leads the pack with 13 nominations: Best Director (Guillermo del Toro), Best Cinematography (Dan Laustsen), Best Lead Actress (Sally Hawkins), Best Supporting Actress

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(Olivia Spencer) and Best Supporting Actor (Richard Jenkins). It’s also competing with “Dunkirk,” “Lady Bird,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” “Call Me by Your Name,” “Darkest Hour,” “Phantom Thread,” “The Post” and “Get Out” for Best Picture.

The second out of the gate is “Dunkirk.” It’s up for awards in directing (Christopher Nolan), production design and sound editing, among others. Nolan is competing with Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Phantom Thread,” Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird” and Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” for Best Director. Peele is the fifth black director nominated for the award, and Gerwig is the fifth woman.

“Dunkirk” is also going up against “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” for Best Original Score. It won’t be an easy win against John Williams, who scored “The Last Jedi” — the composer could fill an orchestra pit with the awards he’s won.

Netflix has already made Academy Award history as the first streaming service to land eight nominations, including four for its feature film “Mudbound.” Mary J. Blige has gotten a nod for her performance as an actress in a supporting role. She’s up against Laurie Metcalf in “Lady Bird,” Leslie Manville in “Phantom Thread” and Allison Janney in “I, Tonya.”

“Mudbound” also shares another milestone: the first nomina- tion of a woman for achievement in cinematography for Rachel Morrison, who’s up against “Darkest Hour,” “Dunkirk,” “The Shape of Water” and “Blade Runner 2049.” Though Netflix has yet to completely win over the Academy with the Best Picture nomination (like Amazon’s nomination for “Manchester By the Sea” last year), the platform is gaining momentum. It was nominated twice for Best Documentary Feature (“Icarus” and “Strong Island”) this year.

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” got seven nods, including one for leading actress Frances McDormand. Her biggest competition is Saoirse Ronan for “Lady Bird.” “Three Billboards” also garnered a double nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell. Willem Dafoe joins them for the supporting actor nomination for his role in “The Florida Project.” “Three Billboards” is also competing with “Lady Bird” for Best Original Screenplay, along with “The Big Sick,” “Get Out” and “The Shape of Water.”

Denzel Washington has another nomination this year for his leading role in “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” He’s going head to head with Gary Oldman for “Darkest Hour,” Daniel Kaluuya in “Get Out,” Timothée Chalamet in “Call Me by Your Name” and Daniel Day-Lewis in “Phantom Thread.”

The host joked that there were some snubs he didn’t agree with, citing “Wonder Woman” as a prime example while venting on his show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” He also thought Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks should have been nominated for “The Post,” but the two nods the film did receive are certainly nothing to sneeze at.

In reality, Kimmel seems surprisingly calm about his hosting gig, despite what the promo implies about his lingering fear of envelopes. With the fallout from the recent Harvey Weinstein scandal, we can expect the air to be rife with tension, and for there to be a few speeches on the subject.

Of course, audiences should expect the long-standing gag between Kimmel and Matt Damon (“The Martian,” 2015) to continue. Though it might be getting a little old at this point, Kimmel will (hopefully) trim the bit this year and give poor Damon a break from his chirping.

It will also be interesting to see if Kimmel delivers food to the audience this year, which is quickly becoming a tradition. The first time, the emcee fed the crowd peanut butter and jelly sandwiches; the second round included parachutes of candy, cookies and doughnuts floating from the ceiling. What culinary display he comes up with this year remains to be seen, or he may drop the nibbles all together.

Don’t miss the glamour and excitement of the red carpet when the 90th Annual Academy Awards airs Sunday, March 4, on ABC.

“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host Jimmy Kimmel hosts the 90th Annual Academy Awards

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