This year's Oscars’ ceremony was unorthodox, to say the least; speeches got longer, movie clips got kicked to the curb, and Glenn Close became a viral meme with her rendition of “Da Butt” dance. Yet, possibly the most shocking change to come out of last night’s ceremony was the ending. Instead of closing out the show with Best Picture (an award that honors mastery filmmaking in its entirety), Joaquin Phoenix closed the show presenting the award for Best Actor. The choice was an unprecedented gamble – an example of producers counting their eggs before they hatch — and it didn’t pay off.
Steven Soderbergh, Stacey Sher and Jesse Collins produced the 93rd Annual Academy Awards, opting to make the ceremony feel like a movie. The show started with credits and even referred to nominees as cast members. And, like all good movies, they presumably hoped to end the show with a bang. Instead, Anthony Hopkins, who was in another country at the time, snagged the final award. ABC’s Executive VP of Unscripted and Alternate Entertainment at Walt Disney, Rob Mills, told Variety:
“It was not meant to end on somebody who was not present. It was a calculated risk, that I think still paid off because everybody was talking about it. Similarly, nobody wants the wrong envelope to happen, like it did three years ago, but everyone was talking about it. I think some people thought maybe they missed some awards. ‘Why is best picture early?’ or, ‘What’s happening, this is crazy,’ almost like, ‘How can this possibly happen? Best picture has to end it!’ Some people were upset, some people loved it and that was really the point that there was no apathy.”
While Mills argued that the show was a success in that it defied expectations, his first sentence highlights a wrongful presumption. He says the show was not supposed to end “on somebody who was not present.” In other words, Chadwick Boseman was expected to earn a posthumous Oscar.
The Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom star was the clear frontrunner for Best Actor in a Leading Role, having previously taken home the Golden Globe and the SAG Award for his unfettered performance. Producers likely expected Boseman to win the Oscar, upon which his widowed wife would come onto the stage, accept the award on his behalf, and deliver a speech that would bring the audience to tears. Yet, the six-time Oscar nominee Anthony Hopkins won the coveted prize. And, instead of a tearful denouement, viewers got an anticlimactic finish. Hopkins gave a belated acceptance speech this morning expressing his utter surprise, as he didn’t think he had it in the bag either. In the end, last night’s ceremony substantiated one long-contested fact – the producers have no clue who will win beforehand.