The 93rd Academy Awards is probably going to be a first-of its-kind ceremony. Films competing this year got fewer viewership than expected, due to theatres being shut for a large part of 2020. Streaming-only titles were granted a one-time exception to a rule dictating that every nominee must have a theatrical release. The ceremony, which closes up the awards season every year, has been delayed by about two months owing to the pandemic. Here’s what you can expect from Oscars 2021.
Chloe Zhao’s drama Nomadland is tipped to win best picture, followed by the Chadwick Boseman starrer Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Nomadland has swept most of the awards shows in the run-up to the Oscars, and is one of the clearest best picture frontrunners in years. Other nominees in the category include Netflix’s The Trial of the Chicago 7, Promising Young Woman, Minari, Judas and the Black Messiah, Mank, Sound of Metal, and The Father.
This year’s Oscars is also expected to set new benchmarks for diversity. Actors of color are favorites in each category, and two female directors are nominated for the first time. The late Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), British Black actor Daniel Kaluuya (Judas And The Black Messiah) and South Korean star Youn Yuh-Jung (Minari) are frontrunners for wins in the acting categories. Boseman is posthumously nominated in the best actor category, Kaluya in supporting actor and Yuh-jungin supporting actress categories.
Netflix is supposed to win big too with two of their films – – The Trial of the Chicago 7 or Mank -nominated in best picture. It would be the first best picture win for the streaming giant; same for Amazon if Sound of Metal wins.
Beijing-born Chloe Zhao (Nomadland) could be a winner for best director. The other female nominee in the category is Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman). Besides director, Zhao is also nominated for editing, screenplay, and as a producer for best picture.
Frances McDormand has long been an Academy favourite. She is competing against Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday), Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman), Frances McDormand (Nomadland), Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman). If McDormand wins best actress for Nomadland, she will become the second woman in Oscars history to bag 3 trophies in that category, after Katharine Hepburn, who has four wins. Meryl Streep and Ingrid Bergman, each have two lead actress Oscars and one supporting actress prize.
The main ceremony will take place at the 1930s-built Union Station, distinctive for its Spanish colonial and Art Deco stylings. The mass transit hub in downtown Los Angeles is 8 miles from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, where the Oscars are usually held.
The show’s co-producer, Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh, has described the Covid-mandated changes as an “opportunity” for a show unlike “anything that’s been done before.” The event will be shot to look more like a feature film than a television show. A-list presenters will include Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt. Bong Joon Ho, Reese Witherspoon, Angela Bassett, Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, Regina King and Bryan Cranston are among other presenters.
The ceremony will lack a host again this year. Attendance will be limited to nominees, their guests and other folks essential to the ceremony (such as the aforementioned presenters) — coming in at around 170 people total. This year’s awards will be held at 8 p.m. ET, Sunday, April 25, airing on ABC.
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