Oscar statuettes at a preview ceremony.Matt Sayles / AP
Director Steven Soderbergh is one of the producers of the Pandemic Oscars. Your choice is not free. His film
Contagion,
released a decade ago, became a premonitory phenomenon in February last year, just as the coronavirus epidemic began to spiral out of control. The drama about a deadly virus originating in Hong Kong that spreads around the world was among the most wanted in early 2020.
Contagion
did not compete for an Oscars in 2012, but will be strangely present at the face-to-face ceremony this Sunday, where
Nomadland
, directed by Chloé Zhao and starring Frances McDormand, is the favorite. Soderbergh and Stacey Sher, producer of
Contagion,
together with Jesse Collins they will mount the biggest Hollywood show in a year in which, more than ever, the
show
must continue despite the fact that the industry was touched to death by the closure of theaters.
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The producers have said that the filming of
Contagion
put them in contact with various epidemiologists. The experts were recently consulted for the design of the health protocols that will mark the face-to-face ceremony on Sunday. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has partly left the Dolby Theater, home of the awards since 2002, to move to Union Station, the train station in the center of the city. That will be the heart of the ceremony, which will start at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time (2:00 a.m. on Monday in Spain). Before that, the musical numbers of the five artists nominated for best original song will be broadcast, in a show similar to that of Joe Biden's inauguration as president of the United States.
The pandemic has forced organizers to scale down the great Hollywood party. Invitations for nominees and their companions have been reduced to a minimum. Some productions have only four tickets for the ceremony. Quite a change compared to the 3,400 seats in the Dolby theater. Filmmakers from overseas arrived in Los Angeles nearly 10 days ago, and the Academy has required them to take three antigen tests until awards night. Those who have not been able to travel to California will be in London (at the British Film Institute) and in Paris (in a studio). And if not, via satellite. Zoom video calls have been banned by the organizers.
Testing and vaccination are the cornerstones of a strategy that has allowed the event to be held in person.
The pandemic forced the awards to be postponed for two months.
The Academy thus returns to adjust the plans of the gala as it did after the floods of 1938, the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968;
the attack on Ronald Reagan, in 1981, and the outbreak of the Iraq war, in 2003, when the red carpet was reduced and the public stands were eliminated.
Today the moment of the epidemic is different.
40% of Americans have received at least one vaccine, and 34% of California's population is already immunized.
On a reduced scale
The Oscars return to their origins in their 93rd edition. By reducing the scale, the organizers will seek to give the event an intimate tone like that of the first 15 installments. "To achieve this, I studied the subtle elegance of the first ceremonies, which were formal dinners and dances held in iconic Los Angeles ballrooms at hotels such as the Hollywood Roosevelt, the Ambassador and the Biltmore," explains architect David Rockwell, designer to EL PAÍS. of production.
The gigantic ticket hall of the train station, built in 1939, will be filled with coffee tables, chairs and blue velvet sofas placed on a slope.
“The focal point will be a simple platform.
In contrast to other ceremonies, where the gleaming stages completely capture the attention, we want to bring the entire space to the ceremony, ”says the director of Rockwell Group.
Soderbergh has said that the gala will be broadcast as a movie.
In widescreen format, at 24 images per second and with a camera on the shoulder at times.
The design of the space where the Oscars are held this Sunday Rockwell Group
There will be no presenter. Instead, the Academy has announced 18 filmmakers who will be in charge of the awards announcements. Last year's winners confirmed their presence: Bong Joon-ho, director of
Parasites;
Renée Zellweger, Joaquin Phoenix, Laura Dern and Brad Pitt. They will be joined by Bryan Cranston, Halle Berry, Reese Witherspoon, Harrison Ford, Rita Moreno and Zendaya, among others. Two nominees this year, Viola Davis, in the category of best actress for
The Mother of the Blues,
and Riz Ahmed, best actor for
Sound of Metal, will
also present awards.
It is unclear what role the masks will play throughout the ceremony. Producers have spoken of creating bubbles, a model the film industry relied on to re-shoot in the pandemic. Zone A will be occupied by the nominees and their companions. The technical team and production will use masks. When the groups move to other patios and spaces, protection will be, then, yes, mandatory.