Conan O’Brien was a great choice to host Sunday’s 97th annual Oscar telecast. After retiring at the end of 30+ years in late night, his podcast, Conan O’Brien needs a Friend, is the gold standard for celebrity conversations. He’s launched a travel series on cable and other ventures and the man has an iron stomach when it comes to eating hot wings.
His two-tux turn as a first time Oscar host was a reason to catch the first 20 minutes last night at the Dolby Theater. O’Brien set a tone by not mentioning president you-know-who (a ban observed by all others throughout the night), singling out pals in the audience (Adam Sandler in a hoodie; John Lithgow looking disappointed) and even indulging in a song-and-dance musical. Although, we didn’t need to waste time about how these things are such time wasters.
O’Brien’s forte is to be silly-funny, and he delivered. Having the thing from Dune play the harp — that was pure Conan.
After the monologue, he did what Oscar hosts do these days — disappeared for 20 or 30 minutes. There are, after all awards to be presented.
The challenge this year, and since the COVID lock-down it seems, is that the nominated films are rarely big box office draws. There wasn’t even a “Barbie” in this bunch. Many are produced by Netflix and other streamers and barely make that one week cinema screening requirement. Even last night’s big Oscar winner, “Anora” (Best Picture and four other awards won by director Sean Baker), seemed to revel in the fact that it was not a big studio effort, but a small independent.
Now, full disclosure: I have not seen it. It may not be as so-so as the host of CBC Radio in Montreal made it out to me in an interview this morning. The Oscars may give it a big box office boost. I hope it does encourage more original, independent storytelling. What it didn’t do, I’ll wager, was boost Sunday night’s Oscar ratings.
advertisement
A bigger hit this past season was “Wicked,” which led off the Oscars with a visually dazzling musical intro. Then it was pretty much quietly retired for the night, winning two design awards. Aside from “Anora,” prizes were spread around the other contenders, with Adrien Brody winning (and ignoring efforts to shorten his speech) for “The Brutalist”; Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldana for “Emilia Perez” both winning for Best Supporting; and Mikey Madison winning Best Actress for “Anora.” “Dune Part Two” won for Sound and Visual Effects. “Conclave: was blessed with an Adapted Screenplay award. “Nickle Boys,” thanks for coming out.
Aside from the awards, many at home watch the Oscars for the fireworks. The tense political climate of the past — what is it now, six weeks? — would have been kindling for past firebrands such as Paddy Chayefsky, an esteemed television and movie playwright born to Russian-Jewish immigrants.
Yet nobody even slapped anybody this year. There was a moment when the Israeli-Palestinian collaboration “No Other Land” won for Best Documentary. Filmmakers Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham kept their passion in check in delivering their Two Nation solution plea.
Other than that, Conan goofed on Emilia Perez’s Twitter villian Karla Sofia Gascon. He asked that if she tweets about the Oscars, “my name is Jimmy Kimmel.” He also joked her poor publicist probably dropped more F-bombs in recent weeks than the 472 that were heard in the movie.
The theatre audience also loved O’Brien’s sole political dig, which came about two-thirds of the way through the 15 hour show, when he pointed out that “Anora” had already won two awards. “I guess Americans are excited to see somebody finally stand up to Russia.”
Presenter Daryl Hannah also provoked cheers when she shouted “Slava Ukraini.”
There were no references to White House taunts that Canada should become a 51st state. ABC, which is owned by Disney, probably left a note or two to not poke the bear given how other networks are facing litigation and/or threats of having their license renewals rejected as newly-appointed FCC heads prepare to do the master’s bidding.
Viewers also watch the Oscars for the fashions. Wicked’s Ariana Grande didn’t disappoint, wearing a dress with a large lower half designed to conceal several members of the Lollypop gang.
As for the requisite “Star Presenters from the Past”: nothing drives home the point that The Oscars have become so last century than this era where Hollywood icons are revealed as regular people. Some viewers, however, still want to be dazzled. Who doesn’t want to see Goldie Hawn again, and the Oscar-winner looks amazing at 79.
Sunday’s star power slipped when Harrison Ford had to bail due to illness was a blow, although Mark Hamil was a welcome replacement. It was fun seeing Mick Jagger run out, spry in his eighties, but he’s more Grammy than Oscar.
The fact that most of the big-name, genuine movie stars from the past are now at Forest Lawn is sobering for older viewers. For a generation raised on Survivor, The Bachelor and other reality shows, movie stars are just Kardashians without cue cards.
Reverence for Hollywood royalty is now saved for the In Memoriam segment. I liked last nights, especially where Morgan Freeman paid his quiet respects to the late great Gene Hackman, The montage that followed, although technically impressive given the giant, two-storey, split circle band platform on stage, read well at home I thought. You didn’t need an 80-inch screen to make out the names of those being honored, such as Donald Sutherland, Teri Garr or Bob Newhart. Sure, other deceased members of the Academy are inevitably left off, but the Academy does direct you to their website for a longer list. The music was classic and orchestral, and that worked for me as well. In other years you had two tenors, a choir and busloads of musicians all over the stage.
Did the 97th Oscars draw 20 million plus? We’ll have to wait until the overnights, which will be added here when they come out.
