This article was first published in BU Today on March 24, 2022. By John O'Rourke
EXCERPT
Hooray for Hollywood! Sunday night, the red carpet will be rolled out in front of the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles for the 94th Academy Awards ceremony, and the 2022 event is already shaping up to be historic for a number of reasons.
This year marks the first time in history two openly gay actors have been nominated in the same year—Kristen Stewart for best actress for Spencer and Ariana DeBose for best supporting actress for West Side Story. It’s also the first time a deaf male actor has been nominated (Troy Kotsur for his celebrated performance in CODA) and the first time two real-life couples have been nominated in acting categories—Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, and Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons. And in a departure from previous years, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has teamed up with Twitter to launch an “Oscars Fan Favorite” contest, where the public can vote on their favorite movie of 2021 and their favorite movie moment.
The 2022 Academy Awards ceremony also promises to look more like a normal Oscar ceremony than last year’s, which was held at LA’s Union Station. Count on plenty of couture, bling, emotional acceptance speeches, and suspense.
Lots of questions are already percolating. Will Jane Campion become the third woman in history to nab a best director win for her acclaimed Power of the Dog? Will Kenneth Branagh take home gold, with his autobiographical film Belfast having earned nominations in three categories: best picture, best director, and best original screenplay? And perhaps most critically, will the Academy’s controversial decision to pretape 8 of the evening’s 23 awards—and air them before the live broadcast—improve the show’s flagging ratings? (Last year’s ceremony—in fairness, a year when very few people attended the movies in person—drew a record low of 9.85 million views, a staggering decline of 58 percent from the previous year.)
To make sense of it all, and give us an inkling of what to expect when the envelopes are opened and the winners announced, we once again sat down with BU movie buff Harvey Young, dean of the College of Fine Arts and a professor of theater and of English.
Q&A
What will you be looking for during the ceremony?
I’m excited by the best original song performances. It’s an all-star lineup: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Van Morrison, Reba McEntire. Although Sebastián Yatra is already a star in Latin music, I anticipate that his appearance will be praised as a breakthrough performance [the Colombian singer-songwriter will perform “Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto].
There’s a lot going wrong with the world. I’m eager to witness how people choose to talk about this moment. There’s a lot that can be said [during the broadcast]. It would be great if kids watching the ceremony in Florida with their two loving moms, or two loving dads, or with a loving transgender parent, could hear words that affirm their family’s status as a family.
Let’s turn to the major categories. Give me your thoughts on who will win, starting with best actor.
Will Smith [in King Richard] has been waging a not-so-subtle Oscar campaign for more than a year—publishing a memoir, producing a dramatic version of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (Bel-Air), deliberately gaining and then losing weight, and even implying that Denzel Washington wants him to win. [Washington is nominated in the same category for his title performance in The Tragedy of Macbeth]. It’s hard to imagine Smith not winning. The names of Denzel Washington or Benedict Cumberbatch [The Power of the Dog] could be called, but we’ve seen them in better roles in the past. Their legacies are obstacles.
What do you anticipate in the best actress category?
This category seems wide open. Olivia Colman is consistently brilliant on the big screen, but Jessie Buckley, who plays her younger version in The Lost Daughter (and is a nominee for best supporting actress) is comparatively more dynamic. It may be a coin toss between Jessica Chastain [The Eyes of Tammy Faye] and Kristen Stewart [Spencer]. The tie breaker usually goes to the actress who is most deglamorized for the role, which would give the edge to Chastain.
Turning to best supporting actress and actor, what do you think we’ll see?
Ariana DeBose is as close as you can get to a lock for the Oscar. She’s brilliant—truly the star—in West Side Story. The supporting actress category has amazing depth. We’ll be eagerly awaiting more films with Aunjanue Ellis [King Richard] and Jessie Buckley.
For best supporting actor, the odds favor Kodi Smit-McPhee [The Power of the Dog] or perhaps, Jesse Plemons [The Power of the Dog], who is an extremely talented actor. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Troy Kotsur, a deaf actor, will win for CODA. Kotsur’s talent, long career, and resilience against bias deserve recognition.
And the winner for best picture goes to?
There’s an impressive range of films this year. Either CODA or The Power of the Dog will win. I’m not sure if every voter will take the time to watch CODA. That’s a disadvantage. If so, the story of a young girl and her working-class deaf parents in nearby Gloucester, Mass., has all the markers of an Oscar winner. However, we’re living in a distressing moment in which the rights of gay and trans individuals are being threatened by conservative lawmakers. A Power of the Dog win would feel like a powerful statement of affirmation (especially with anticipated acceptance speeches) in support of LGBTQ+ communities.