Academy to announce Oscar noms in two-part presentation

PanARMENIAN.Net - In a break with tradition, the Academy will announce the nominations in all 24 categories in a live, two-part presentation on Jan. 15. Chris Pine, J.J. Abrams and Alfonso Cuaron are set to take part in the announcements, along with Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, The Hollywood Reporter said.

At 5:30 a.m. PT, Cuaron and Abrams will announce the first group of nominees in the categories of animated feature film, documentary feature, documentary short subject, film editing, original song, production design, animated short film, sound editing, sound mixing and visual effects.

Then, at 5:38 a.m. PT, Pine and Boone Isaacs will unveil the remaining nominees in the categories of actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, cinematography, costume design, directing, foreign language, makeup and hairstyling, original score, adapted screenplay, original screenplay and best picture.

The announcements will take place at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills and will be carried live at www.oscars.org/live. Both presentations also will be broadcast live on ABC’s Good Morning America.

In past years, the nominations unveiling, timed to break into the networks’ morning broadcasts, has consisted of just one announcement, focusing on the top categories, but not including the various crafts categories, which will now also get their moment in the spotlight under the new format.

"With our 17 branches and the distribution of 24 awards on Oscar night, this is about recognizing the talent that it takes to make a motion picture," Boone Isaacs tells THR. "We're always looking at ways to expand our recognition for the talent that it takes to produce movies."

The decision to formally announce all 24 categories should come as particularly good news to members of the various crafts branches, who just a few years ago were worried that their categories were in danger of being dropped from the broadcast itself. Boone Isaacs credited Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who will be producing their third successive Oscar show, for coming up with the idea.

Zadan explained that the new format grew out of personal frustration watching the nomination announcement in the years before he and Meron became involved with the show. "You'd get up early for the nominations and you found a group of people announced, that was it," he says. "You'd find yourself asking, 'Who got this nomination, who got that nomination?,' but then you'd have to wait to find out. We just thought wouldn’t it be great if you let everybody know all at once all 24 categories. We brought the idea to Cheryl and she embraced the goal of honoring all 24 categories."

The fact that the two presentations will also stream live also underscores the Academy's growing move into social media, which was a consideration when the producers selected the presenters who will join Boone Isaacs. "We chose people who had a big platform to speak to the many, many diverse people who are interested in film," Meron says. "We looked for the most distinguished people we could find to get the word out."

Added Boone Isaacs, "Both J.J. and Alfonso are world-class directors who have mde movies that cross many different genres and they are excited about recognizing the contributions that they know so well are part of the success of a motion picture."