The Time’s Up movement, Harvey Weinstein, Washington’s ongoing dysfunction, and — of course — last year’s best picture snafu, dominated Sunday’s Academy Awards.
Host Jimmy Kimmel got the show rolling with a bit of self-deprecating humor, joking about last year’s best picture envelope mix-up and promising that this year would be smoother. He did, however, warn winners to be cautious.
“This year, when you hear your name called, don’t get up right away,” he said to a laughing crowd.
Kimmel joked that he was to blame for the mix-up as he turned down a request to do comedy with the PricewaterhouseCoopers accountants, which led them “to do comedy on their own.”
The host immediately turned to women’s rights by making a point about the Oscar statue itself, calling it a literal, “statue of limitations.”
“He keeps his hands where you can see them, never says a rude word and most importantly — no penis,” Kimmel said.
Disgraced movie executive Harvey Weinstein received several jabs amid support for the ongoing movement against sexual harassment. Kimmel urged winners and presenters to keep speaking out in favor of movements such as #MeToo and Time’s Up.
“This is a night for positivity,” he said.
Kimmel then pointed out some of the nominees involved in the best picture categories.
He acknowledged “Get Out” director Jordan Peele’s historic nominations for best picture, directing and screenwriting for his debut film, and its importance for promoting black artists.
“President Trump called ‘Get Out’ the best 2/3 of a movie this year,” Kimmel joked.
The host took another shot at the White House when he mentioned that many of the best picture nominees, including the LGBTQ-themed love story “Call Me By Your Name,” didn’t make more than $100 million.
“We don’t make Oscar-nominated movies to make money. We make them to upset Mike Pence,” Kimmel said.
Among the early winners were Sam Rockwell for best supporting actor for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and Allison Janney for best supporting actress for “I, Tonya.”
Kimmel did mention that the big blockbusters also are making progress when it comes to diversity, citing the success of the superhero movies “Wonder Woman” and “Black Panther.”
“I remember a time when studios didn’t believe that a woman or a minority” could carry a superhero movie, he said. “And I remember that time because it was March of last year.”
Kimmel gave a small shoutout to the student activists and survivors of the Parkland, Florida, shooting and encouraged winners to use their victory speeches as platforms for their beliefs.
However, he warned that producers wanted the show to move quickly and promised the winner with the shortest speech a jet ski, which was presented to the audience in “Price Is Right” fashion by Helen Mirren.
“In the unlikely event of a tie, the jet ski will go to Christopher Plummer,” Kimmel said.
The red carpet pre-show was fairly void of controversy. The E! Network kept Ryan Seacrest on as a red carpet reporter despite recent revelations that he allegedly sexually harassed a stylist who worked for him at the network. The pre-show producers elected to put a 30-second delay on Seacrest interviews, but no one directly brought up the allegations to his face on air — with the exception of Taraji P. Henson.
The “Empire” actress told Seacrest that the universe “has a way of taking care of the good people,” before giving him a look and playfully pinching his chin.
