For some years now, a dark curse has hit the Oscars that haunts the presenters, held responsible for the drop in share of the live award ceremony. Will Jimmy Kimmel avert catastrophe by becoming the new Billy Crystal?
As an interesting and amusing article on the USA Collider site points out, presenting the Oscar it no longer seems, at least to most of the chosen ones, an honor, a privilege, an opportunity to be in the midst of extraordinary artists and to transmit the love of cinema to viewers, gaining visibility in the meantime. No, being on stage at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood now corresponds to a kind of curse. The causes are many, and criticisms arrive on time to the presenter on duty, who often finds himself facing the indestructible wall of politically correctness. Hence the choice, on some occasions, to give up the figure of the conductor, dividing the task of introducing the various talents by an unspecified number of Oscar award.
The presenters of the Oscars: let’s make some history
The Oscar they’ve had a host since well before the trophy award ceremony went on TV. To inaugurate the tradition was, back in 1929, Douglas Fairbanks, famous star first of silent and then of sound cinema. After him, prestigious directors such as Frank Capra e Cecil B. De Mille. After that, in 1940, it was time Bob Hope, who with his comedic skills gave liveliness to the “night of the stars”, also entertaining the public with his dazzling jokes and skills as a showman. His last tenure dates back to 1977, and in almost 40 years, few have replaced him, and among these few there are, for example, the illustrious Fred Astaire, Danny Kaye, Jerry Lewis e Jack Lemmon. Being part of Hollywood’s Gotha, each of them has never rowed against the Academy, but those were different times and some naughty jokes could still be made. Another regular presence, later Bob Hopewas Johnny Carson, leading 5 consecutive editions. Conductor historian The Tonight Showshe didn’t fare badly at all.
Another bright movie star who made the Academy Awards ceremony savory and irresistible was Billy Crystalreal heir, in this sense, of Bob Hope. With a debut in 1990, the male protagonist of Harry ti presento Sally has presented, in 15 years, nine editions of the Oscars. Even with him the Academy felt it was playing it safe, and for this very reason it paid little attention to the conductor issue. In short, things went automatically and therefore… that was fine. And yet, later Billy… downpour!
The exceptions
Collider points out that among so many bad presenters, who made the awards ceremony a mortal bore, one of the few to stand out was Hugh Jackman in 2008. It is not well known why the online newspaper, which gives a detailed overview, ignores it completely Whoopi Goldberg, who was also the first African American woman to earn the Oscar stage. You will remember that, in the 2008 montage with the best of past editions of the Academy Awards, the actress was not there, and she was left very disappointed. Even this incident is strangely passed over in silence, but so be it. And anyway, after Whoopi… another deluge!
The disaster
In recent times, the presenters of the Oscars have left much to be desired, prompting viewers to often change the channel. Perhaps the worst have been James Franco e Anne Hathaway in 2011. And what about Ellen DeGeneres o Chris Rock? Between the two, he certainly did worse. Maybe never how Neil Patrick Harris – someone will object, and in fact he’s not entirely wrong. Collider judges the conduct of disastrous Seth MacFarlanebut is keen to highlight how unfortunate has been the decision to fall back, in the last few years, on so many presenters, many of whom are totally devoid of the necessary comedic tempos.
It is precisely in this lack of ability to make people laugh that one of the causes of the indigestibility of the recent editions of the most important film awards in the world must be identified. Another lies in the idealization, as a historical heritage, of Bob Hope, Johnny Carson e Billy Crystal. The third reason is that, with the development of entertainment TV programs, many stars have lost their glamor or have become unknown to most.
And so what? So the ideal Oscar presenter must be a well-known face, he must know how to make people laugh and, as we have already said, he must not exaggerate with witticisms, especially by putting any type of minority in a bad light. And woe to sin of body shaming!!!
Oscars 2023: Is Jimmy Kimmel a safe bet?
This year, the honor of carrying out the Oscar marathon falls to Jimmy Kimmel, which is in its third “term”. During the first, in 2017, the terrible gaffe occurred La La Land/Moonlight, on which our joked in the promo of the 2018 edition. As presenter, Jimmy is impeccable, and his proves it Jimmy Kimmel Live! Of Italian descent on her mother’s side, Kimmel don’t fear another unfortunate episode like slap that Will Smith gave to Chris Rock during the 2022 edition, and if someone were to make the same reckless gesture this year addressing it to him, if this someone was The Rock, Jimmy he would run away immediately, if instead he were a person with little physical strength, he would respond with another slap.
Jimmy Kimmel he was not involved in the activity of the so-called “crisis unit” that the Academy set up after that Will Smith he’s temporarily out of his mind, but he says he’s quiet, and one thing’s for sure: Oscars 2023 promo trailer teasing Ton Gun: Maverickand in which ours says: “I’m your man”, is hilarious, and this, perhaps, is already a guarantee of success.
