The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will reverse last year's controversial move to shorten the Oscars telecast. This year, all twenty-three awards—the nominations for which were announced today—will be presented live and on-air. Academy CEO Bill Kramer has confirmed that every award will be featured on the telecast in a report from Variety.
Last year, in an attempt to combat the awards show's perpetually ballooning run time, eight less-prominent awards were cut from the broadcast; Best Original Score, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Documentary Short, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design, Best Animated Short, Best Live Action Short, and Best Sound. The presentation of those awards by Josh Brolin and Jason Momoa was pre-recorded and then edited into the show later. Viewership of last year's telecast did increase over 2021's Oscars but still lagged behind pre-pandemic ratings.
Kramer, who was appointed in June, said that there had been many conversations about the cut categories and that the Academy is "committed to having a show that celebrates the artisans, the arts and sciences, and the collaborative nature of moviemaking. This is very much what the mission of the Academy is, and I am very hopeful that we can do a show that celebrates all components of moviemaking in an entertaining and engaging way."
Numerous Hollywood figures objected to the marginalization of the so-called "below the line" categories, including Guillermo del Toro, Denis Villeneuve, and Steven Spielberg (nominated for Best Director this year for The Fabelmans). Spielberg said "All of us make movies together, we become a family where one craft is just as indispensable as the next. I feel that at the Academy Awards there is no above the line, there is no below the line. All of us are on the same line bringing the best of us to tell the best stories we possibly can. And that means, for me, we should all have a seat at the supper table together live at 5." Although the dissent was eventually overshadowed by a more sensational controversy at the awards show, clearly Spielberg and his colleagues won the argument.
Executive producers and showrunners Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner of White Cherry Entertainment will produce the Oscars; Weiss will direct the show for the eighth consecutive time.
The 95th Oscars will air on ABC on March 12, 2023, with host Jimmy Kimmel. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.