Never mind, the Oscars will air all the categories live after all
Just days after unveiling a plan to hand out certain Oscars during commercial breaks, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has decided it will air every Oscars category live after all.
"The Academy has heard the feedback from its membership regarding the Oscar presentation of four awards – Cinematography, Film Editing, Live Action Short, and Makeup and Hairstyling," said the organization in a statement. "All Academy Awards will be presented without edits, in our traditional format."
This news comes after a meeting between Academy leadership, including president John Bailey, and "top cinematographers," reports Variety.
Previously, the organization had intended to give out four of the awards during breaks, with the speeches to be aired later in the broadcast. The idea was to save time, so the awards broadcast could be trimmed down to three hours or less.
But the move was seen as disrespectful, and those in the industry quickly made their displeasure known. On Wednesday and Thursday, dozens of individuals — including Christopher Nolan, Guillermo del Toro, and Martin Scorsese — signed an open letter criticizing the Academy's decision.
This is just the latest highly public reversal from the Academy in the run-up to this year's ceremony, which takes place Sunday, Feb. 24.
Previously, the organization announced a new Popular Film category, which was met with confusion and controversy and subsequently axed. They hired Kevin Hart to host — and then un-hired him after his homophobic tweets resurfaced. There will be no host at all this year for the first time since 1989.
The Academy had also considered having only two of the five Best Original Song nominees perform live (instead of all five, as is more usual), only to change their minds.
And they tried to buck the tradition of having the pervious year's acting winners present the awards for this year's crop, but then backed down after 2018 Best Supporting Actress winner Allison Janney expressed her disappointment.
With only two weeks to go until the ceremony, here's hoping the rest of the planning goes more smoothly.
