Family Guy creator and Ted director Seth MacFarlane is to host the 2013 Academy Awards, the show’s producers have announced via press release. Mr. MacFarlane, who has released an album of standards in addition to his Fox TV comedy and summer movie and recently hosted Saturday Night Live, is known for vocal impersonations and a love of Broadway-style Read More
While the honorary Academy Awards no longer get a devoted segment during the televised ceremony, the awards are still a big deal–a chance to honor those who slipped through the cracks and never ended up with a statue. This year’s four recipients don’t include a single actor (unlike recent years when recipients have included Read More
The year’s biggest night for fashion was an unusually metallic affair–with Best Actress Meryl Streep draped in gold, Best Supporting Actress Octavia Spencer in sparkly silver, Melissa Leo in a pile of sequins, and Jennifer Lopez in a significantly sparser pile of sequins. Aside from all the gold and silver, black and white seemed to rule the evening–the few well-executed bits of color, like Michelle Williams’s sweet red dress, came across beautifully. Here’s who we thought were the best dressed last night! Read More
Octavia Spencer, last night’s Best Supporting Actress winner, has more in common with Melissa Leo than Meryl Streep–she’s been a working actress trying simply to get more work, not accolades, since her first role in A Time to Kill in 1996. Some of her roles have included Nurse Jane in Chicago Hope, Nurse in Read More
Last night’s Oscars were as draggy as ever–perhaps it’s time to give up the ghost of the hope that they can magically become a breezy ceremony, or at least to stop complaining annually that the jokes are hackneyed and the show’s self-congratulatory. The jokes being hackneyed are kind of the point, and, given that this Read More
Per Slate, only three Oscar-winning actors from the past ten years have thanked God in their acceptance speeches, while four have thanked Meryl Streep. All this and more in an obscenely detailed infographic tallying who has thanked whom, and in what position (first and last are most valuable, it would seem.) The biggest thing Read More
The Academy has released an incomplete list of this weekend’s Oscar presenters. Based on past experience, what categories shall they present. Here are our best guesses!
Christian Bale will present Best Supporting Actress; Melissa Leo will present Best Supporting Actor; Colin Firth will present Best Actress; Natalie Portman will present Best Actor. This gender-swapping Read More
The Academy Awards are this Sunday–and we’ll be liveblogging away at observer.com. So as to be optimally prepared for these mythical “Oscar pools” that exist only in the minds of entertainment writers, or at least to shout the winner a second before it happens, we’ve held the hive-mind of the Internet to our ear so Read More
The Academy has warned Sacha Baron Cohen not to show up to the Oscars in character as “the Dictator,” the title character from his upcoming fantasia on Middle Eastern themes. As Mr. Cohen’s films rest somewhat on the tension between his invented characters and shocked but credulous citizens, and as he’s run out of citizens Read More
Jim Henson’s Muppets will join previously announced presenters Emma Stone, Angelina Jolie, and Ben Stiller in presenting at this year’s Oscars. Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog, the Muppets in question (whither the Swedish Chef?) have had a busy year promoting their film across various media, though the Oscar-nominated song from that film, “Man or Read More
