Day: February 24, 2025

After devastating wildfires tore through Los Angeles, the 97th Academy Awards are going forward. 

Like the Grammys and other awards shows this year, the ceremony will be transformed by the fires and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has pledged to help its members and the broader film community recover. 

Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s show: 

When are the Oscars? 

The Academy Awards will be held March 2, at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. The show, to be broadcast live by ABC, is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Eastern/4 p.m. Pacific. 

Who’s hosting the Oscars? 

Conan O’Brien is hosting the Academy Awards for the first time. O’Brien, the late-night host turned podcaster and occasional movie star, said upon the announcement: “America demanded it and now it’s happening: Taco Bell’s new Cheesy Chalupa Supreme. In other news, I’m hosting the Oscars.” 

How have the wildfires altered the show? 

The wildfires that consumed large parts of Los Angeles in early January led some to call for the cancellation of the Academy Awards. The academy twice postponed the announcement of nominations but never pushed the March 2 date of the ceremony. Academy leaders have argued the show must go ahead, for its economic impact on Los Angeles and as a symbol of resilience. 

Organizers have vowed this year’s awards will “celebrate the work that unites us as a global film community and acknowledge those who fought so bravely against the wildfires.” 

Still, the fires have curtailed much of the usual frothiness of Hollywood’s awards season. The film academy canceled its annual nominees’ luncheon. 

For many involved in the Oscars, the fires have been felt acutely. O’Brien’s Pacific Palisades home survived but his family has been unable to go back to it. O’Brien’s assistant and podcast co-host Sona Movsesian lost her home. 

“I know so many people who lost their homes and I’m just, was ridiculously lucky,” O’Brien told The Associated Press. “So, we want to make sure that that show reflects what’s happening and that we put a light on the right people in the right way.” 

Who’s presenting at the Oscars? 

More stars were added to the presenter lineup last week, including Selena Gomez, Oprah Winfrey, Joe Alwyn, Goldie Hawn, Ben Stiller, Ana de Armas, Sterling K. Brown, Willem Dafoe, Lily-Rose Depp and Connie Nielsen. They’ll join the likes of Halle Berry, Penelope Cruz, Elle Fanning, Whoopi Goldberg, Scarlett Johansson, John Lithgow, Amy Poehler, June Squibb and Bowen Yang, as well as last year’s acting winners — Emma Stone, Robert Downey Jr., Cillian Murphy, Da’Vine Joy Randolph — on the Oscar stage.

Though the academy initially said it would bring back the “fab five” style of presenting the acting awards, with five previous winners per category, organizers have reportedly abandoned those plans for this year’s ceremony. Nick Offerman will also be participating as the Oscars announcer. 

Will there be any performances? 

The academy has announced that, unlike previous years, the original song nominees will not be performed this time. That doesn’t mean there won’t be music, though. 

Doja Cat, LISA of Blackpink, Queen Latifah and RAYE will be part of “showstopping performances celebrating the filmmaking community and some of its legends,” producers announced Monday, as will Wicked’s Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. (The songs from Wicked weren’t eligible for best song since, hailing from the Broadway musical, they aren’t original to the movie.) The Los Angeles Master Chorale will also appear. 

What’s nominated for best picture? 

The 10 nominees for best picture are: Anora, The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Dune: Part 2, Emilia Perez, I’m Still Here, Nickel Boys, The Substance, and Wicked. 

How to watch Oscar-nominated films? 

Some of the nominees are still in theaters, but many of this year’s Oscar nominees are streaming on various platforms.  

Who are the favorites? 

More than most years, that’s a tricky question, but a front-runner had emerged after Anora took the top awards at the Producers Guild, Directors Guild and Independent Spirit Awards. The best picture race had been seen as unusually wide open, with Anora, Conclave, The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown and Emilia Perez all having legitimate hopes of winning — the hopes of Conclave further boosted by its Screen Actors Guild ensemble win. 

In the acting categories, Demi Moore (The Substance) is favored for best actress, although Mikey Madison’s BAFTA and Independent Spirit wins for Anora makes it more of a race. Adrien Brody (The Brutalist) is most likely in best actor — though SAG winner Timothee Chalamet could threaten — while Zoe Saldana (Emilia Perez) is the supporting actress front-runner and Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) is the favorite for best supporting actor. None of those awards, however, is considered a definite lock. 

What’s the deal with ‘Emilia Perez’? 

Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez, a narco-musical about a Mexican drug lord who undergoes gender-affirming surgery, comes in with a leading 13 nominations. The film, at one point, seemed like Netflix’s best chance yet to land the streamer its first best picture win. Its star, Karla Sofia Gascon, made history by becoming the first openly trans actor nominated for an Oscar. 

But no nominee has had a rockier post-nominations Oscar campaign. After old offensive tweets by Gascon were uncovered, the actress issued an apology. The fallout, though, has badly damaged a movie that was already a divisive contender, and led Netflix to radically refocus its flagging campaign.
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NEW YORK — Roberta Flack, the Grammy-winning singer and pianist whose intimate vocal and musical style on Killing Me Softly with His Song, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and other hits made her one of the top recording artists of the 1970s and an influential performer long after, died Monday. She was 88.

She died at home surrounded by her family, publicist Elaine Schock said in a statement. Flack announced in 2022 she had ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and could no longer sing,

Little known before her early 30s, Flack became an overnight star after Clint Eastwood used The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face as the soundtrack for one of cinema’s more memorable and explicit love scenes, between the actor and Donna Mills in his 1971 film Play Misty for Me. The hushed, hymn-like ballad, with Flack’s graceful soprano afloat on a bed of soft strings and piano, topped the Billboard pop chart in 1972 and received a Grammy for record of the year. In 1973, she matched both achievements with Killing Me Softly, becoming the first artist to win consecutive Grammys for best record.

She was a classically trained pianist discovered in the late 1960s by jazz musician Les McCann, who later wrote that “her voice touched, tapped, trapped, and kicked every emotion I’ve ever known.” Versatile enough to summon the up-tempo gospel passion of Aretha Franklin, Flack often favored a more reflective and measured approach.

For Flack’s many admirers, she was a sophisticated and bold new presence in the music world and in the social movements of the time, her friends including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Angela Davis, whom Flack visited in prison while Davis faced charges — for which she was acquitted — for murder and kidnapping. Flack sang at the funeral of Jackie Robinson, major league baseball’s first Black player, and was among the many guest performers on the feminist children’s entertainment project created by Marlo Thomas, Free to Be … You and Me.
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The 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards kicked off Sunday night with host Kristen Bell paying tribute to Los Angeles firefighters and another supporting actor win for “A Real Pain” co-star Kieran Culkin.

Bell introduced the ceremony, streaming live on Netflix from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, as an ode to both the aspirational spirit of actors who come to Los Angeles to make it, and to the city, itself.

The SAG Awards unfolded against the backdrop of the devastating wildfires that began in early January. Those fires forced the guild to cancel its in-person nominations announcement and launched a disaster relief fund for SAG-AFTRA members affected.

Before singing “Do You Want to Be an Actor?” to tune of “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” from “Frozen,” Bell introduced attending firefighters as “the most attractive tables” among a sea of stars.

“First it was COVID then it was the strikes then it was the devastating wildfires,” actor Courtney B. Vance, president of the SAG-AFTRA charitable foundation told attendees ahead of the show. “Thousands have lost their homes including our own members and their families.”

The night’s first televised award went to Culkin, who has won just about every award in the category. Gripping the SAG trophy, he could quickly tell the difference.

“It is funny that the heaviest of all awards is given by actors,” said Culkin, who characteristically riffed his way through a rambling acceptance speech before swearing sincerity: “Believe it or not, this actually means a lot to me.”

The SAG Awards should offer the final clue in an unusually unpredictable Oscar race. The other major awards — including the BAFTAs, the Producers Guild Awards, the Directors Guild Awards and the Golden Globes — have all had their say. But actors make up the largest piece of the film academy pie, so their picks often correspond strongly with Academy Award winners.

After wins from the PGA and the DGA — and last night, the Independent Spirit Awards — Sean Baker’s “Anora” is seen as the favorite to win best picture in a week’s time at the Oscars. But Edward Berger’s “Conclave” won last weekend at the BAFTAs, the latest wrench in an award season full of them. That’s included the unlikely rise and precipitous fall of another top contender, “Emilia Pérez.”

The awards are being streamed lived by Netflix, which distributed “Emilia Pérez,” for the second time.

“Wicked” comes in the leading film nominee, with five nods, while “Shōgun” heads the TV categories. It took early awards for Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai and for best stunt ensemble. The corresponding award for film went to the stunt performer ode “The Fall Guy.”

The best actor and best actress categories should be nail biters. While Brody (“The Brutalist”) has won a string of awards, Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown”) and Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”) could easily pull off the upset. Best actress could go to either Moore (“The Substance”) or Madison (“Anora”).

In addition to the competitive categories, Jane Fonda will be given the SAG Life Achievement Award.

 
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Los Angeles — Former Vice President Kamala Harris stepped on the NAACP Image Awards stage Saturday night with a sobering message, calling the civil rights organization a pillar of the Black community and urging people to stay resilient and hold onto their faith during the tenure of President Donald Trump.

“While we have no illusions about what we are up against in this chapter in our American story, this chapter will be written not simply by whoever occupies the oval office nor by the wealthiest among us,” Harris said after receiving the NAACP’s Chairman’s Award. “The American story will be written by you. Written by us. By we the people.”

The 56th annual Image Awards was held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in the Los Angeles area.

Harris, defeated by Trump in last year’s presidential election, was the first woman and the first person of color to serve as vice president. She had previously been a U.S. senator from California and the state’s attorney general.

In her first major public appearance since leaving office, Harris did not reference her election loss or Trump’s actions since entering the Oval Office, although Trump mocked her earlier in the day at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Harris spoke about eternal vigilance, the price of liberty, staying alert, seeking the truth and America’s future.

“Some see the flames on our horizons, the rising waters in our cities, the shadows gathering over our democracy and ask ‘What do we do now?'” Harris said. “But we know exactly what to do, because we have done it before. And we will do it again. We use our power. We organize, mobilize. We educate. We advocate. Our power has never come from having an easy path.”

Other winners of the Chairman’s prize have included former President Barack Obama, the late Rep. John Lewis and the late actor Ruby Dee.

NAACP Hall of Fame

Harris was honored during the ceremony along with the Wayans family. The family was inducted into the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame in recognition of pioneering contributions to film, TV, sketch and stand-up comedy that have shaped Hollywood for decades.

Keenen Ivory Wayans, Damon Wayans Sr., Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Kim Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. each were recognized.

Marlon Wayans, whose guest appearance on Peacock’s “Bel-Air” was up for an NAACP award, shared how Keenen Ivory Wayans sparked the family’s rise.

“He raised us all like Jedis,” he said. “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for our big brother.”

Marlon Wayans joked that when his brother told their mom he was leaving college for comedy, she said, “Boy, I’ve known you your whole life, and you ain’t never said nothing funny. That’s the funniest thing you’ve said.”

The crowd erupted in laughter, a fitting tribute to a family that has kept audiences laughing for more than three decades.

The family has a long list of credits. Keenen Ivory Wayans created the sketch comedy series “In Living Color” in 1990 and directed the 2000 slasher spoof “Scary Movie,” which was written by Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans, who also wrote and starred in “White Chicks” in 2004. Damon Wayan’s had a starring role in the 1995 comedy “Major Payne,” and currently co-stars with son Damon Wayans Jr. in the CBS sitcom “Poppa’s House,” which was nominated for an NAACP Award. The pair also were nominated for their acting on the show.

Damon Wayans Jr. has acted in two of the most critically acclaimed comedies in recent years: “Happy Endings” and “New Girl.” Kim Wayans, a comedian, actor and director, also received praise for her work in the 2011 drama “Pariah.”

Entertainer of the year

Keke Palmer expressed her surprise after her name was called as winner of the coveted entertainment of the year.

“Oh my gosh. Guys, I didn’t think I was going to win,” said Palmer, who paid homage to fellow nominee Cynthia Erivo’s Oscar-nominated performance in “Wicked.”

Palmer starred in the buddy comedy “One of Them Days,” which debuted No. 1 at the box office last month. She also won an Emmy for her hosting efforts on NBC’s “Password.”

“It’s such an amazing category to be in with all these people,” Palmer said. “It’s a beautiful night. It’s Black History Month, y’all. It’s so important we all come here together and celebrate one another with one another.”

Other nominees included Kendrick Lamar, Kevin Hart and Shannon Sharpe.

Awards recognize LA residents impacted by wildfires

Image Awards host Deon Cole honored residents of the nearby Altadena neighborhood who were affected by January’s devastating Los Angeles-area wildfires.

A video of the fire devastation played before actor Morris Chestnut took the stage.

“Homes were lost, stores destroyed, countless lives shattered and over two dozen souls gone forever,” said Chestnut, a Los Angeles native who referenced impacted areas such as Altadena, the Pacific Palisades and Malibu.

“But what was not lost is the spirit of our community,” said Chestnut, who noted 22 Altadena residents attended the show on Saturday. Many in the audience stood and applauded.

Cole shifted tone and brightened the mood with a comedic prayer for Kanye West’s wife to find more clothes after her barely-there Grammys look and for Shannon Sharpe to finally size up his T-shirts.

The opening act was a lead-up to the evening’s first award: Queen Latifah as best actress in a drama series for her role in “The Equalizer.”

Chappelle honored

Dave Chappelle was honored with the President’s Award for his “thought-provoking humor.”

Accepting the award, Chappelle talked about the NAACP’s push against negative portrayals of Black people in media and the importance of representation.

“Every opportunity we get, we just keep chipping away at this monster of a machine,” he said.

Past recipients of the President’s Award include Jay-Z, Lauryn Hill, Usher, Rihanna and John Legend.
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