by If Will Smith isn’t in the running, who will present this year’s Best Actress award at the Oscars?
The biggest movie night is upon us, with Jimmy Kimmel returning as the host of the awards ceremony on Sunday (March 12) in Los Angeles. A full list of the evening’s nominees can be found here.
It is an academy tradition that the previous year’s best actor winner presents the best actress award and vice versa. For example, 2021 winner Anthony Hopkins presented Jessica Chastain with her trophy for Best Actress in 2022.
That year, Chastain won for her role in Tammy Faye’s eyes — will likely present the Best Actor award, for which Brendan Fraser, Austin Butler, Colin Farrell, Bill Nighy and Paul Mescal are nominated. Unless the academy decides to change things up because of Smith.
When it comes to who will present the best actress award — which Michelle Yeoh, Cate Blachett, Andrea Riseborough, Ana de Armas and Michelle Williams are competing for — the answer is less clear.
There’s an obvious hiccup — last year’s Best Actor winner, Smith, will miss the 2023 proceedings.
Following Smith’s actions at last year’s awards show, where he slapped presenter Chris Rock onstage, the King Richard star has been banned from all Academy events, including the Oscars, for 10 years.
Although a star-studded list of Oscar presenters was recently unveiled, the Academy has yet to announce the name of Smith’s replacement.
However, it is not an entirely unprecedented situation. In 2018, Casey Affleck (the 2017 winner for Best Actor for Manchester by the sea) was supposed to present the award for the best leading actress.
In January of this year, Affleck announced that he was retiring from his presenting duties after details of sexual harassment allegations against the actor came to light.
In 2010, he settled two cases with his film’s producer and cinematographer I am still here.
The allegations intensified because the award ceremony took place in the course of the #MeToo movement.
In place of Affleck, Jennifer Lawrence and Jodie Foster, previous Best Actress winners, presented the award to Frances McDormand.
That same year, Jane Fonda and Helen Mirren hand-in-hand to present the Oscar for Best Actress, although it would normally have been Emma Stone who had the honor (as she had won Best Actress in 2017). Instead, Stone presented the award for best director.
The Oscars have parted from tradition before. For two consecutive years – 2009 and 2010 – the Best Actor and Best Actress categories have been presented by groups of previous winners.
In 2010, for example, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry, Shirley Maclaine and Sophia Loren all took the stage to present Kate Winslet with her statuette for Best Actress The reader.
Meanwhile, Sean Penn was presented with his award by Robert DeNiro, Adrien Brody, Michael Douglas and Ben Kingsley.
A year later, the academy decided to go the same way. In 2010, Sandra Bullock won the Best Actress award The blind side by Michael Sheen, Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Stanley Tucci and Peter Saarsgard.
Viewers praised the creative decision and have begged the organizers to bring back the group presenters. With Smith’s absence putting a spanner in the works, 2023 could very well be the year they do.
Find out here how to watch the Oscars from home and when the ceremony starts.
