LOS ANGELES, CA — Oscar’s having a rough year. In the latest reversal by an Academy struggling to regain its footing after 2018’s record-low viewership, last year’s winners will be able to return to the stage this year as presenters.
The announcement marks yet another high-profile turnabout for the Feb. 24 telecast. The rocky Oscars preseason started with the announcement of a new Academy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film category that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences quickly abandoned amid confusion and no small amount of mockery. Then, Kevin Hart was named host, only to lose the gig days later when he refused to apologize for his history of homophobic tweets. Now there will be no host, and it looked as though the Academy would scrap the tradition of inviting back last year’s winning actors to present as well. But that plan proved as unpopular as the Academy’s other controversial proposals.
Last year’s Academy Award winners will return to the Oscar stage later this month as presenters, although one of them is nominated again, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday. The change comes amid outcry. Even Allison Janney, last year’s winner for best supporting actress, expressed her disappointment in a since deleted tweet.
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Frances McDormand, Gary Oldman, Janney and Sam Rockwell will be presenting awards at the ceremony.
McDormand and Oldman were named best actress and actor last year for their respective work in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and “Darkest Hour.” Janney won best supporting actress for “I, Tonya,” while Rockwell was named best supporting actor for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”
Rockwell is nominated in the supporting-actor category again this year for his portrayal of President George W. Bush in “Vice.”
City News Service contributed to this report. Photo: HOLLYWOOD, CA – MARCH 04: (L-R) Actor Sam Rockwell, winner of the Best Supporting Actor award for ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri;’ actor Frances McDormand, winner of the Best Actress award for ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri;’ actor Allison Janney, winner of the Best Supporting Actress award for ‘I, Tonya;’ and actor Gary Oldman, winner of the Best Actor award for ‘Darkest Hour,’ poses in the press room during the 90th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on March 4, 2018 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)