Ah, can you smell it? The aroma of scorching hot awards season debates is already in the air! The nominees for the 2017 Oscars were announced bright and early this morning – or should we say dark and early, as the ScreenCrush team beat the sunrise for the big announcement.
This awards season is off to a tardy start across the board, with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences taking a bit longer than usual to select the producers of their annual Oscars ceremony. After a few months of speculation, the Academy has finally set a creative team to produce the 89th awards telecast: Three-time Oscar-nominated producer Michael DeLuca and Emmy-nominated producer Jennifer Todd.
If you watched last night’s Oscars, surely you saw Lady Gaga’s showstopper performance of “Til It Happens to You,” her Oscar nominated song from The Hunting Ground. Gaga’s performance, which brought the audience to its feet, introduced survivors of sexual assault onto the stage at the end of the song as they all stood hand-in-hand. It was a powerful moment, but equally as powerful was a moment you didn’t see: Oscar-winner walking up and hugging every single survivor as they walked off stage during a commercial break.
With the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, all eyes where on 2016 Oscars host Chris Rock as he returned to add a little diversity to this year’s Academy Awards, and he did not disappoint.