Variety 3/30/2022

Ask 100 people in the entertainment industry what the Academy Awards telecast should entail, and you’re bound to get 100 different opinions. But it’s safe to say that all 100 would agree that what happened at the Oscars on Sunday was not the way to go. There was, of course, the specter of Will Smith smacking Chris Rock on the air, in retaliation for Rock’s “G.I. Jane 2” joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who is bald due to alopecia, a diagnosis she revealed in 2018. The incident, followed by Smith’s regretful-yet-defiant acceptance speech for best actor, vaporized excitement inside the Dolby Theatre and devoured any conversation about the Oscars online that was not about What Will Smith Just Did on Live TV. “If the show was a little…

BEST PICTURE “CODA” Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi, Patrick Wachs-berger, producers DIRECTOR Jane Campion “The Power of the Dog” LEAD ACTRESS Jessica Chastain “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” LEAD ACTOR Will Smith “King Richard” SUPPORTING ACTRESS Ariana DeBose “West Side Story” SUPPORTING ACTOR Troy Kotsur “CODA” ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY “Belfast” Kenneth Branagh ADAPTED SCREENPLAY “CODA” Siân Heder ANIMATED FEATURE “Encanto” Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino, Clark Spencer INTERNATIONAL FEATURE “Drive My Car” (Japan) DOCUMENTARY FEATURE “Summer of Soul (… Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent, David Dinerstein CINEMA-TOGRAPHY “Dune” Greig Fraser PRODUCTION DESIGN “Dune” Production designer: Patrice Vermette; set decorator: Zsuzsanna Sipos COSTUME DESIGN “Cruella” Jenny Beavan FILM EDITING “Dune” Joe Walker MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” Linda Dowds,…

TROY KOTSUR is operating on one hour of sleep, but he’s still smiling ear to ear. It’s Monday, the morning after he became the second deaf performer in Academy history to win an acting award at the Oscars (after his “CODA” co-star Marlee Matlin, who took home best actress in 1987 for “Children of a Lesser God”). His turn as the lusty fisherman Frank Rossi in “CODA” became a favorite of this awards season, and so did appearances from the affable 53-year-old performer, a working Los Angeles stage actor who until recently was not a known entity in Hollywood. As Kotsur thinks about what his Oscar win will mean to him, he starts to cry. “I was so tired of financially struggling for so many years,” he says through an…

THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF OUR AWARDS SEASON COVERAGE & VIRTUAL EVENTS FREDERIC ASPIRAS HOUSE OF GUCCI VARIETY ARTISAN AWARD JAVIER BARDEM BEING THE RICARDOS VARIETY ACTORS ON ACTORS VARIETY STREAMING ROOM KENNETH BRANAGH BELFAST VARIETY FYC FEST VARIETY STREAMING ROOM NICHOLAS BRITELL DON’T LOOK UP VARIETY MUSIC FOR SCREENS VARIETY STREAMING ROOM JESSIE BUCKLEY  THE LOST DAUGHTER VARIETY STREAMING ROOM JANE CAMPION  THE POWER OF THE DOG VARIETY DIRECTORS ON DIRECTORS VARIETY STREAMING ROOM ENRICO CASAROSA LUCA VARIETY FYC FEST JESSICA CHASTAIN THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE VARIETY ACTORS ON ACTORS OLIVIA COLMAN THE LOST DAUGHTER VARIETY STREAMING ROOM CHRIS CORBOULD NO TIME TO DIE VARIETY FYC FEST: THE SHORTLIST HANK CORWIN DON’T LOOK UP VARIETY STREAMING ROOM PENÉLOPE CRUZ PARALLEL MOTHERS VARIETY ACTORS ON ACTORS BENEDICT…

After weeks of controversy over the decision to cut eight artisan categories from the Oscar broadcast, the winners of those categories got to collect their statuettes. Their acceptance speeches were edited for insertion into the primetime live show, and excerpts are highlighted below. For the full winners’ speeches, go to Variety.com. MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh LINDA DOWDS: You just saw that we are in a group of incredible nominees, and everybody took a moment to celebrate all of us and each of us. I so love that. It’s the true spirit of what our work is about. … There are tens of thousands of craftspeople just like us who are below the line who come into work every day…

ARRIVALS Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, March 27 As the sun blazed down on Hollywood Boulevard, nominees, presenters and guests walked the red carpet for the film industry’s biggest event of the year. Kristen Stewart was a first-time nominee for her work as Princess Diana in “Spencer.” “I feel slightly hysterical,” the actor told Variety while holding hands with her fiancé, Dylan Meyer. “I’m so ecstatic. I need to chill a little bit.” “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” star and eventual Oscar winner Jessica Chastain said, “I started the day really early in the morning with hair and makeup, so I didn’t have to feel rushed. Then I had a bourbon.” GOVERNORS BALL Ray Dolby Ballroom, Hollywood, March 27 Oscar winners headed to the Academy’s official post-soiree to have their statuettes engraved.…