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Wolfgang Van Halen‘s career has been full of unlikely opportunities. After all, he started with playing bass alongside his father and uncle in Van Halen when he was just 16 years old. And his own band, Mammoth WVH, has become a stadium habituate opening for the likes of Metallica and Guns N’ Roses.
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But the son of the late Eddie Van Halen and actress Valerie Bertinelli never thought he’d be part of an Academy Award-nominated song — sung by a Barbie doll, no less.
Yet Van Halen was, in fact, part of the team that recorded “I’m Just Ken,” the Ryan Gosling-sung piece from Greta Gerwig’s hit film Barbie. He plays guitar on the track, which was co-written and produced by Mark Ronson and Andrew Watt and features Slash on guitar, current Foo Fighters drummer Josh Freese on drums and Jelly Fish/Imperial Drag keyboardist Roger Manning.
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“I’m honestly happy just to be a part of it, to have an opportunity to play a super small part in it,” Van Halen tells Billboard. “It was a really, really wonderful opportunity. I knew (the movie) was good just from being involved in it and seeing what I was able to see. But to see the song I played on blow up as much as it did was pretty crazy.”
Van Halen was recruited for the track after meeting Ronson at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert in London during September 2022. “Mark Ronson and I hit it off,” Van Halen remembers, “and he reached out and hit me up and it was just a really good time. I spent two days in his studio and we just played around with ideas and it was a really good time. (Ronson) and his writing partner Andrew are such wonderful dudes and amazing at what they do that it was an honor just to see how they worked.”
“I’m Just Ken” was a top 5 hit on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart during the summer and hit No. 87 on the Billboard Hot 100, while Barbie The Album reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Soundtrack Albums chart. During December, a “Merry Kristmas Barbie” version of the power ballad send-up was released, accompanied by a video boasting an in-studio performance. Gosling will perform the song at the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday (March 10); the band lineup for the show has not been announced, but Ronson, Watt and others who took part in the session are expected to be part of it. Mammoth WVH recently announced the postponement of three concerts this week which would have conflicted with the Oscars and rehearsals.
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“For Mark and Andrew to bring me into it, just to play some guitar in the movie, it was really, really wonderful,” Van Halen says. “I’d love to do something like that again, especially with those guys. They’re wonderful dudes and incredibly talented. Everybody in the movie, the whole production of it, are so deserving of every accolade they’re getting. It’s really exciting.”
Van Halen does not, however, see soundtrack composing in his future at the moment. “I’m still very much focused and driving on building Mammoth and seeing what is possible with that,” he explains. “But certainly, opportunities like the one that Mark gave me for Barbie, when they come up it’s very, ‘Okay, we can certainly make time for something like this.’ But I’m very much driven in terms of, ‘Let’s see where we can take Mammoth.’”
Van Halen has mostly been taking Mammoth on the road this year, supporting last August’s Mammoth II. The group is wrapping up the first leg of a U.S. headlining tour and will be playing Europe supporting Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators during March and April. The group will also be supporting Metallica and Foo Fighters during the summer. Van Halen is also “tinkering” with new song ideas, though he says any plans for a third Mammoth WVH album are “super preliminary.”
In May, Van Halen and his father’s EVH instrument company will roll out a new line of SA-126 guitars, which he designed along with EVH masterbuilder Chip Ellis and Matt Bruck.
Amidst all the good news, Van Halen is still fighting off some haters, an ongoing battle that he’s addressed in songs such as “I’m Alright” and “Better Than You.” Most recently it was former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth, who posted a lengthy video diatribe that referred to Van Halen as “this f–kin’ kid” and a “schlemiel kid” and accused him of kicking some of Roth’s guests out of the backstage area during shows. “I’m honored he thinks about me as much as he does, I guess,” Van Halen says in response, though quickly adding that, “I would sure love to not have to be part of some sort of Van Halen drama at all, so I think I’m just gonna continue to sit in my no-comment zone…’cause at the end of the day it’s just not worth it.”
But, he continues, “It’s one thing when there’s some due on Twitter saying a lie about me. But when there’s other people trying to lie about me and make me look bad? It’s just like, you can believe whatever you want, I guess. The people who hate me are gonna continue to hate me, and I’m just gonna be over here doing my thing.”
The creative team behind the 2024 Oscars is lifting an idea from the 2009 Oscars, when they had five past winners in each of the four acting categories pay tribute to the current nominees before announcing this year’s winner.
In a press conference Wednesday (March 6) on Zoom, four days before the Oscars telecast on March 10, Raj Kapoor, executive producer and showrunner of the Oscars, said “I think one of the things we’re most excited about is what we call Fab Five. We did a deep dive into so many of the past Oscar shows, and even though we’ve been a part of previous shows, even though I think all of us have watched the show since we were kids, we always feel like we learn.
“So, we went back, we did a deep dive into Oscars history, and one of the best moments that we loved, and has not been repeated till this year, was the year that Bill Condon [screenwriter of Gods and Monsters and Chicago] did it, and it was this lovely storytelling. And, again, it came down to connection. It was past winners speaking to present nominees, and just that lovely connection and that human interaction.
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“And so we thought we’d love to try it again. So, we tasked Erin [Irwin], who is one of our other producers, and she’s done an amazing job. … And so during the show in our acting categories, five former winners will present to the five nominees, and we think it’s just going to be a great piece of storytelling and connection at home that you will maybe get to hear these personal stories and these personal interactions, and you get to root for your favorite actor or actress in this really personal way. So, we’re really excited to have that come to life.”
If you missed the 2009 show, Whoopi Goldberg, Goldie Hawn, Anjelica Huston, Eva Marie Saint and Tilda Swinton presented the nominees for best supporting actress.
Alan Arkin, Cuba Gooding Jr., Joel Grey, Kevin Kline and Christopher Walken presented the nominees for best supporting actor.
Halle Berry, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren and Shirley MacLaine presented the nominees for best actress.
Adrien Brody, Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Anthony Hopkins and Ben Kingsley presented the nominees for best actor.
While the Academy has not yet announced who will be presenting which awards this year, these announced presenters have won in these categories. (Jessica Lange and Al Pacino have won in both lead and support. We put them where they seemed likeliest to land on Sunday).
Best actress: Sally Field, Charlize Theron, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Lawrence, Michelle Yeoh
Best actor: Ben Kingsley, Forest Whitaker, Nicolas Cage, Brendan Fraser, Matthew McConaughey
Best supporting actress: Mary Steenburgen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Regina King, Rita Moreno, Lupita Nyong’o, Octavia Spencer
Best supporting actor: Christoph Waltz, Mahershala Ali, Ke Huy Quan, Sam Rockwell, Al Pacino
In addition, the show has booked Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, stars of the upcoming film Wicked, as presenters. It’s a good bet they’ll do something together.
Rickey Minor, who is serving as music director of the Oscars for the fourth time in the past six years, was also on the panel. He was asked how he picks the music to play on the show, and explained some of the obvious factors – looking for a range of emotions and a diversity of source material. “But it’s about the energy of the room,” he said. “So, we have a plan, but I’ll call an audible just like that. You know, if I feel the audience needs something that needs to pump them up, I’ve got it right in the pocket. And so the band’s always ready. And I think they love it, too, because they never know what’s coming.”
Kapoor added, “This year, the orchestra is live on our stage. So, we are celebrating 42 incredible musicians that will be seen throughout the evening. … And we are treating the music performances very different. Sometimes, it’s full orchestration. Sometimes, they may be a little bit more intimate. And that will lend itself when we get to the In Memoriam performance.”
In response to a question from the session’s moderator, Rotten Tomatoes’ awards editor Jacqueline Coley, Kapoor spoke highly of Jimmy Kimmel, who is hosting the Oscars for the fourth time.
“I could not speak more highly of anybody than Jimmy,” he said. “He’s been an amazing partner, and he has just been so involved from the very beginning in the summer. He’s involved in all our creative decisions, from the presenters to pairings to the pace of the show to musical performances. Like, Jimmy’s touch, he is a producer on this show. He is one of our partners, and he has a really strong creative vision. And I think what makes him so great is just his investment. We don’t just get him for rehearsals this week. We get him for months before.”
The panelists were asked which was their favorite Oscar show they had worked on. Molly McNearney, executive producer of the Oscar telecast and an executive producer of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, had a surprising answer – the show seven years ago that was capped by the biggest debacle in Oscar history, when La La Land was named best picture before the award was presented to the rightful winner, Moonlight.
“This might be an unpopular answer, but when there was the mix-up with the envelope, I actually enjoyed the spontaneity of a moment because when Jimmy is in an uncomfortable situation, that’s where he’s most comfortable,” McNearney said. “And I think that when there’s moments you don’t expect in a live television broadcast, I think we’re in really great hands with this team.”
McNearney also spoke to the process of writing the monologue. “You know, the monologue is scripted,” she said. “It gets reworked up until the very last minute. He will obsess now over every joke. He has pages and pages and pages. He has a rough outline of the monologue that I read this morning that I think is brilliant. I know it will change six more times before Sunday. But then there are those moments in the show that are completely unscripted. There have been several in every show he’s ever hosted. And those are the moments I love the most because we get to be surprised.”
Katy Mullan, executive producer, spoke to an interactive portion on this year’s show involving a QR code. “One of the really successful parts of last year’s show was profiles of a lot of the nominees, and they got huge, huge views from global audiences. So, at the end of each act, there will be a QR code, and people can scan that and go to the Academy website where they can watch profiles of a ton of the people that are nominated. They’re beautifully made by The Academy team and really insightful.”
“And there’s also an ability to go and watch the speeches from the Governors Awards, which happened earlier this year. … It was a really, really memorable night. So, if you want to go and do a deep dive during the commercial breaks or after the Oscars, all of that content will be there.”
Vanessa Hudgens and Julianne Hough are set to host The Oscars Red Carpet Show, ABC’s official lead-in to the 96th Oscars on Sunday, March 10, airing at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT. This marks Hudgens’ third consecutive year hosting the pre-show, and Hough’s inaugural year. The 30-minute special, executive produced by David Chamberlin, will highlight […]
In the run-up to the Oscars on Sunday (March 10), a coalition of actors, musicians and activists will issue an open letter to Hollywood on the significance of Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer and the real-life threats of nuclear war.
The coalition includes members of Oppenheimer‘s cast and crew, as well as such bold-faced names as Annie Lennox, Graham Nash, Jackson Browne, Emma Thompson, Jane Fonda, Julianne Moore, Lily Tomlin, Michael Douglas, Rosanna Arquette and Viggo Mortensen. J. Robert Oppenheimer’s grandson, activist Charles Oppenheimer, also joined this call-to-action. The letter will be posted on MakeNukesHistory.org Wednesday (March 6), and will be printed in a full page ad in Thursday’s Los Angeles Times.
Under the headline “An Open Letter to Hollywood on Oppenheimer and Nuclear War,” the ad says, in part:
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“Oppenheimer depicts the origin story of nuclear weapons, the history of the Manhattan Project, and Robert Oppenheimer’s subsequent warnings against an arms race and the development of even more powerful weapons. Oppenheimer was right to warn us.
“Today, 13,000 nuclear weapons are held by nine countries. Some are 80 times more powerful than the ones that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
“As artists and advocates, we want to raise our voices to remind people that while Oppenheimer is history, nuclear weapons are not.
“At a time of great uncertainty, even one nuclear weapon — on land, under the sea, in the air, or in space — is too many. To protect our families, our communities, and our world, we must demand that global leaders work to make nuclear weapons history — and build a brighter future. Please join us — before our luck runs out.”
This is part of a multipronged “Make Nukes History” campaign launching this week, leveraging the attention on Oppenheimer to elevate the conversation about the nuclear threat.
This week, billboards, murals and wheatpastes are popping up around Hollywood, calling attention to the risks of nukes. In the coming days, there will be an art installation at the Original Farmers Market near The Grove in Los Angeles. Backed by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, the campaign aims to raise awareness about the risks posed by today’s nuclear arsenals.
The campaign is taking place across Los Angeles and includes, in addition to billboards, a mural in West Hollywood and more than 1,000 street posters, proclaiming “Oppenheimer Started It, We Can End It” and “13 Oppenheimer Nominations; 13,000 Nuclear Weapons.”
For more information on the campaign and to read the open letter, visit MakeNukesHistory.org
Some of these signees to the open letter have been anti-nuclear activists for decades. Nash and Browne were among the organizers of No Nukes/The MUSE Concerts for a Non-Nuclear Future, which were held in September 1979 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Fonda also participated in that event. A triple-disk live album from the concerts was released in late 1979 and made the top 20 on the Billboard 200.
Douglas and Fonda starred in the 1979 thriller The China Syndrome, about a fictional accident at a nuclear power plant. The film, which Douglas produced, was released theatrically on March 16, 1979, 12 days before the Three Mile Island nuclear accident proved that the film’s premise was not far-fetched.
Rickey Minor has been busy lately, serving as music director of the Kennedy Center Honors in December and the Primetime Emmys in January, but there was never any question that he’d say yes to serving as music director of the 96th Oscars, which are set for Sunday (March 10).
“This is the crème de la crème,” he says of the Oscars. “We’re closing in on 100 years of this, so for me, this is an honor. Before me, there were many [music directors] and there will be many more after, but for now I am basking in the opportunity to create and to add value however I can.”
This will be the fourth time in six years that Minor has served as the Oscars’ music director. In the pandemic year of 2021, when a scaled-down show was held at Union Station in Los Angeles, Questlove took over as music director. The following year, Adam Blackstone got the nod, owing to a long-standing relationship he had with that year’s producers, Will Packer and Shayla Cowan.
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In addition to the Kennedy Center Honors and Primetime Emmys, Minor recently worked on the Governor’s Awards presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and the In Memoriam spot on the Grammys. His main contribution to the Grammy segment was the spot in which Stevie Wonder paid tribute to Tony Bennett. As he mentions Bennett, whom he calls “my hero,” Minor pulls a Bennett poster off the wall of his office to serve as a visual aid.
“Now that the strike is over, the year just kind of exploded,” Minor says of all this work, adding, “It’s a good problem to have.”
So, after these back-to-back-back shows, if he got another offer for a job after the Oscars, would he decline and say he needs a break? Don’t count on it. “I will show up at the opening of an envelope,” he says with a smile.
“I love this business and I love making music. So, I literally just drop everything and go and do it. For me, it’s a gift. Most people don’t get to wake up every day and do what they love.”
Asked what other music directors he learned the most from, Minor immediately mentions Quincy Jones, whose many trailblazing achievements include being the first Black music director on the Oscars.
“To see what he has done, and then for him to take me on and mentor me and help me through the business part of it [means a lot]. I would play for free because I love it so much,” he raves. “He said, ‘Don’t ever say that again. That’s the first rule.’ Now when people call me and say, ‘Hey, I’m just checking to see are you free on this day,’ I say ‘I’m never free. I’m available but I’m never free.’ He taught me the ins-and-outs of the business and how to prepare.
“There are so many more, including Harold Wheeler,” Minor continues. “As a young bass player, I did a lot of awards shows. When I became music director for Whitney Houston, I didn’t know what to ask for or how deals were done, so he helped me find an attorney to do the deal. I didn’t know the business side.”
Minor also credits Bill Ross and Bill Conti. “All those guys I worked under and really learned from watching.”
Minor learned that he had the job on the Oscars in October, but his appointment wasn’t announced until Feb. 9, as part of a larger announcement of this year’s Oscar team.
As music director, Minor takes charge of finding walk-on music for people booked on the show and music leading into and out of commercials. “We have some pieces from France, from Africa — from all over the world,” he says. Minor is trying to work in some songs that are new for the Oscars, as well as favorite pieces by such composers as Henry Mancini, Jones and Lalo Schifrin.
This year’s Oscars will include performances of all five nominated songs. Ryan Gosling and Mark Ronson will perform “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie. Billie Eilish and Finneas will perform “What Was I Made For? From Barbie. Becky G will perform “The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot. Jon Batiste will perform “It Never Went Away” from American Symphony. Scott George and The Osage Singers will perform “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon.
In addition, Ariana Grande, Bad Bunny and Zendaya have been announced as presenters, among others. Asked if Grande will also sing on the program, Minor is coy. “I want to hear her sing always,” Minor said. “She can sing the phone book and she’ll get your attention.”
Minor has received 15 Emmy Award nominations for outstanding music direction, winning twice. He has been nominated three times for his work on the Oscars, three times for The Kennedy Center Honors, twice for the Grammy Awards and twice for “Grammy Salutes” specials to the Bee Gees and Aretha Franklin. He has also been nominated for the following specials: Genius: A Night for Ray Charles, An Evening of Stars: Tribute to Chaka Khan, Smithsonian Salutes Ray Charles: In Performance at the White House, Taking the Stage: African American Music and Stories That Changed America and Celebrating America – An Inauguration Night Special.
The 96th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 10 at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC, and in more than 200 territories worldwide.
Ariana Grande, Ryan Gosling and Melissa McCarthy have been added to the ranks of presenters on the 2024 Oscars, which are set for Sunday (March 10).
Grande joins previously announced presenters Bad Bunny and Zendaya, which will give music fans an added reason to tune into the show.
Other newly announced presenters are Emily Blunt, Cynthia Erivo, America Ferrera, Sally Field, Ben Kingsley, Issa Rae, Tim Robbins, Steven Spielberg, Mary Steenburgen, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlize Theron, Christoph Waltz and Forest Whitaker.
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In addition to presenting, Gosling is set to perform “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie in tandem with the song’s co-writer, Mark Ronson. The actor is also nominated for best supporting actor.
Previously announced Oscars presenters (in addition to Bunny and Zendaya) are Mahershala Ali, Nicolas Cage, Jamie Lee Curtis, Brendan Fraser, Chris Hemsworth, Dwayne Johnson, Michael Keaton, Regina King, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Lawrence, Matthew McConaughey, Kate McKinnon, Rita Moreno, John Mulaney, Lupita Nyong’o, Catherine O’Hara, Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ke Huy Quan, Sam Rockwell, Octavia Spencer, Michelle Yeoh and Ramy Youssef.
The show will revive a presentation tactic last used 15 years ago in which five former winners in each of the four acting categories will individually pay tribute to this year’s nominees and then award this year’s winners, in effect welcoming them to the club.
Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the 96th Oscars will air live on ABC and broadcast to outlets worldwide on Sunday, March 10, at the new, earlier time of 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The show will be held at its usual home, the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.
Raj Kapoor is executive producer and showrunner. Molly McNearney and Katy Mullan are also executive producers. Hamish Hamilton is directing the show. Rickey Minor is music director.
Her scene lasts only a few minutes, but it is as memorable as it is relevant for the narrative of Poor Things. Portuguese fado singer and songwriter Carminho plays “O Quarto (Fado Menor)” in the Oscar-nominated film, captivating Emma Stone’s Bella, and marking a turning point in the character’s arc. And you don’t need to speak the language to get the feeling of melancholy.
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Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things follows the evolution of Bella Baxter, a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (played by Willem Dafoe). In the scene with Carminho, Bella is alone, strolling through a fantastical version of Lisbon, where she traveled with lover Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) in a coming-of-age journey of self-discovery. Suddenly, she is completely captured by this piercing, emotional voice.
“I was very happy to see how beautiful the scene was, how intense. It’s the first time there’s silence in the movie and Bella is alone,” Carminho tells Billboard Español. “I thought this is the transition of Bella’s character from a child to a woman. It was very beautiful to see that Yorgos used the fado to make that, because there’s such feeling of sadness in fado, even if we don’t understand [the lyrics,] there’s a little bit of pain in each of those interpretations,” she adds of the popular Portuguese music genre, characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics.
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This is not Carminho’s first movie appearance. Before Poor Things, she participated in the Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura’s Fados (2007), and then in the Portuguese director João Botelho’s Filme do Desassossego (2010), in one case as a singer, in the other as herself. “But this is my first Hollywood movie,” she says, beaming.
And is also the one that has put her more on the international map. Armed with a Portuguese guitar — an iconic 12-string instrument Carminho learned to play specifically for the role — her powerful vocals were recorded live in only one shot, enough to fill the room with commanding force.
How she got to be in such a big production — one of the most acclaimed movies of 2023, with 11 Oscar nominations (including for best picture, best director and best actress) — is something that took her by surprise. “The director of casting just sent an email to my team asking if I was interested in doing a cameo in this film with this director, and I was completely excited with that idea — but I needed to understand first what the expectations were from Yorgos, and what he was looking for,” she recalls. “I needed to understand what he was seeing when he invited me.”
So, they had a “beautiful meeting” where Carmniho remembers Lanthimos saying, “‘I was looking for you because I think that you work the traditional fado [with a contemporary twist].’” She got to ask the director all the questions she had for him, and even suggest the song to play: “O Quarto (Fado Menor)” — “something very melancholic, something simple and traditional”, which is public domain and which she had just recorded for her then upcoming album. “I made the song in the film with music and lyrics that I wrote, and in my album Portuguesa, I do the same lyrics with another music,” she explains. “So, the version in the movie is unique.”
And “the lyrics were perfect for the moment,” she recalls the director telling her, translating part of it during our interview in New York City: “In this room so tight that I thought was just mine/ Infiltrated such a poison, it’s the loneliness and I/ And then, I don’t know how, the cold came in/ So now we are three, and the three don’t make one […] You come in as you don’t see me/ A heart that’s broken is this room that is so empty/ Even the air won’t fit.”
Carminho attends the “Poor Things” premiere at DGA Theater on Dec. 6, 2023 in New York City.
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Daughter of the renowned fado singer Teresa Siqueira, Carminho released her debut album Fado in 2009, followed by Alma in 2012, Canto in 2014, Carminho canta Tom Jobim in 2016, Maria in 2018 and Portuguesa in 2023 — the last of which earned her a Latin Grammy nomination.
Beyond that and her Poor Things-stealing scene, last year was a big year for the artist, with dozens of shows in Portugal and other European countries — as well as in Brazil, Mozambique, and the United States. She also performed for Pope Francis in Lisbon during a World Youth Day celebration, and sang at the New York City premiere of the Academy Award-nominated film.
Now she is set to come back in April to the U.S. as a guest on Caetano Veloso’s The U.S. Farewell Tour, where she’ll join the Brazilian legend to sing their collaboration “Você-Você,” included in his 2021 album Meu Coco.
Watch Carminho’s scene with Emma Stone in Poor Things here:
Foreigner is having a moment. The band, which is currently nominated for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, is also being saluted in an ad promoting the Oscars, which are set for March 10. The ad tweaks the title of Foreigner’s 1977 breakthrough hit “Feels Like the First Time” with the copy […]
The 2024 Oscars will have strong Latin representation. Two Puerto Rican superstars of different generations — Bad Bunny and Rita Moreno — have been added as presenters for the March 10 ceremony, along with Chris Hemsworth, Dwayne Johnson, Michael Keaton, Regina King, Jennifer Lawrence, Kate McKinnon, John Mulaney, Catherine O’Hara, Octavia Spencer and Ramy Youssef.
Moreno won an Oscar in 1962 for West Side Story. In 1977, she became the first Latina (and just the third person overall) to complete the EGOT. In 2022, Bad Bunny made history when Un Verano Sin Ti became the first Spanish-language album to top Billboard’s year-end chart and to receive a Grammy nod for album of the year.
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On Wednesday, the Academy announced that another popular Latin star, Becky G, would perform the nominated “The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot on the telecast. Becky G was born in Inglewood, Calif., to Mexican American parents.
Previously announced Oscars presenters are Mahershala Ali, Nicolas Cage, Jamie Lee Curtis, Brendan Fraser, Jessica Lange, Matthew McConaughey, Lupita Nyong’o, Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ke Huy Quan, Sam Rockwell, Michelle Yeoh and Zendaya.
The 96th Oscars will air live on ABC and broadcast to outlets worldwide on Sunday, March 10, at the new, earlier time of 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.
Jimmy Kimmel is hosting the show for the fourth time. It will be held at its usual home, the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.
Raj Kapoor is executive producer and showrunner for the 2024 Oscars. Molly McNearney and Katy Mullan are also executive producers. Hamish Hamilton is directing. Rickey Minor is music director.
This year’s Oscars ceremony will be broken up by performances from all five of the night’s best original song nominees. Two of those five are tracks from Greta Gerwig’s Barbie blockbuster: “What Was I Made For?” and “I’m Just Ken.” The former will be performed by Billie Eilish and her brother/producer Finneas during the March […]