“It’s time to shake it up a little bit, isn’t it?” Academy show co-producer Laurence Mark told USA Today.
Rating were at an all time low last year and obviously the show is attempting to go out on a limb boldly, but it could all backfire. So far almost no stars have been announced as presenters and the cloak of secrecy is the way they hope to draw in people, but will people respond?
“When [the producers] told me what they were going to do, I said, ‘Look, if it works, you’re geniuses, and if it doesn’t, you’re the putzes who sank the show,’ ” veteran head Oscar writer Bruce Vilanch told the AP.
According to the Hollywood Reporter some stars who were scheduled to present, but weren’t yet announced have already dropped out. Are stars having cold feet about the potentially wacky things they may want them to do or are obligations getting in the way?
Show producers Laurence Mark and Bill Condon told USA Today that “the plan is to craft [the show] as a combination vaudeville show and nightclub — where 24 awards just happen to be dispensed.”
So like dancing and musical numbers? Yes. Villanch adds to this by saying, “[Host] Hugh Jackman is going to come out and say a few things, but he’s not going to do a 10-minute monologue… He’s going to be doing a lot of musical stuff, so that will have a different feel to it. The show’s got a narrative line this year, so all the awards are grouped around that. The sequence in which they’re given is dictated by this narrative.”
Narrative, narrative, narrative. That’s all people keep saying. So there’s some story through-line that connects all the awards? According to USA Today, the goal is to honor all the films of 2008 and not just those up for awards. So they suggest “pop hits” like “Iron Man” and “The Dark Knight” will get their due too [ed. but with eight nominations, we definitely think ‘TDK’ has not been ignored as some have suggested]. People think Jackman is a weird choice for host, but he has hosted the Tonys like three-four times and even won an Emmy for doing so.
Update: Vulture reports that Anne Hathaway may open the show with Jackman who’s also reached out to Ricky Gervais for jokes. Meanwhile, a story on a blog has “leaked” the supposed winners, but like Awards Daily says, linking to it is giving that bullshit creedence and its just someone fishing around for extra traffic.
