Oscars 2015: The producers give a preview

The Academy Awards ceremony on Feb. 22 will include an original song by the Oscar-winning writers behind 'Let It Go' as well as performances by Lady Gaga, Adam Levine, Common, and John Legend, among many others. Actor Neil Patrick Harris is set to host.

|
Mike Blake/Reuters
Workers lay down the red carpet along Hollywood Boulevard as preparation begins in front of the Dolby Theatre for the Academy Awards in Hollywood, California.

Lady Gaga. Jennifer Hudson. Common and John Legend. Adam Levine. Rita Ora. Tegan & Sara. Tim McGraw.

This isn't the lineup for an upcoming pop concert, but rather for Sunday's Academy Awards.

"We want to entertain," said Neil Meron, producing his third consecutive Oscar ceremony with Craig Zadan. "And there's no better entertainment than to do it with music."

Host Neil Patrick Harris will perform an original song by the Oscar-winning writers behind "Let It Go," the producers said. Called "Moving Pictures," the musical number will set a "subliminal theme" for the evening, Meron said.

"It really is celebratory about movies and yet it's kind of cheeky in a way," he said. "But yet it has a beautiful musical motif which... we integrate throughout the show as kind of a call-back theme."

Added Zadan: "We didn't want to do a musical number that could have been on the Tonys, or anywhere else for that matter."

"It's a multimedia musical number," he said, "something that we've not done before."

Music is part of the production pair's professional DNA, though. The two produced the "The Sound of Music" and "Peter Pan" live TV specials, as well as the movie musicals "Hairspray" and "Chicago," which won the best picture Oscar in 2003.

The producers said they started booking musical acts even before they learned the year's nominees. But they were delighted with the nominated original songs.

"We were smiled upon in that respect," Meron said.

A spate of stars will bring those songs to life on the Oscar stage.

Common and Legend are set to perform their song, "Glory," from "Selma." Levine will sing "Lost Stars" from "Begin Again." Ora will take on Diane Warren's song from "Beyond the Lights," ''Grateful." Tegan & Sara will join with The Lonely Island for "The Lego Movie" song, "Everything is Awesome." McGraw will perform Glen Campbell's song "I'm Not Gonna Miss You," from the documentary about his struggle with Alzheimer's, "Glen Campbell... I'll Be Me."

The producers wouldn't say what Hudson, Gaga and other entertainers, including Jack Black and Anna Kendrick, will sing.

Suspense about their performances will have to stand in for the lack of suspense for most of the acting categories. Patricia Arquette of "Boyhood" and J.K. Simmons of "Whiplash" have locked up supporting-actor awards all season, and Julianne Moore is a shoo-in for the best-actress Oscar for "Still Alice."

The lead actor competition has some excitement, with Michael Keaton of "Birdman" and Eddie Redmayne of "The Theory of Everything" splitting many of the early honors.

"Birdman" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" lead all nominees with nine bids apiece, including best picture, director, cinematography, and original screenplay. Also up for best picture are "American Sniper," ''Boyhood," ''The Imitation Game," ''The Theory of Everything," ''Selma," and "Whiplash."

Among the highlights of last year's top-rated ceremony was host Ellen DeGeneres' surprise pizza delivery and superstar-selfie moment. Meron and Zadan wouldn't say what antics are planned this year – if they're planned at all.

"Everyone thinks that we pre-planned the selfie and pizza thing exactly the way they happened last year, but we didn't!" Zadan insisted, detailing the various ways the bits could have gone wrong: "Nobody takes a piece of pizza, and then it's weird. Ellen is standing there with pizza."

But they do promise real magic on Oscar night. After all, host Harris is a magician.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Oscars 2015: The producers give a preview
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Movies/2015/0218/Oscars-2015-The-producers-give-a-preview
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe