Jimmy Kimmel to host Oscars in 2023 – and will be ‘funny and ready for anything’
Jimmy Kimmel is set to return to host the Oscars ceremony for a third time, producers have announced – saying the star will be “ready for anything”.
The late-night US talk show host will present the ceremony in March 2023, five years since his last appearance at the helm.
Kimmel first hosted the Oscars in 2017 – when he famously managed the chaotic final moments as La La Land was wrongly named best picture over the actual winner, Moonlight – and then again in 2018, which came just months into the #MeToo reckoning in Hollywood.
Kimmel was hosting when La La Land was infamously announced as the best picture winner in 2017 – although Moonlight had actually won. Pic: AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
“We’re super thrilled to have Jimmy score his hat trick on this global stage,” executive producers and showrunners Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner said in a joint statement sent to Sky News. “We know he will be funny and ready for anything.”
“Being invited to host the Oscars for a third time is either a great honour or a trap,” Kimmel joked. “Either way, I am grateful to the academy for asking me so quickly after everyone good said no.”
Following Kimmel’s hosting hosting duties in 2018, the Oscars ceremony was held without a main presenter until this year’s ceremony – which saw Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes sharing the stage.
The 2023 show will be the 95th Academy Awards ceremony.
Academy chief executive Bill Kramer and president Janet Yang said Kimmel will be the “perfect host”.
Molly McNearney, who is the co-head writer and executive producer of the star’s show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and is married to Kimmel, will also serve as an executive producer on the broadcast.
After years of falling ratings, this year’s ceremony did see numbers improve, with 15.36 million viewers; however, this was in comparison with a record low in 2021, held amid restrictions during the COVID pandemic.
How will Kimmel deal with ‘Slapgate’?
Pic: AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
The 2022 ceremony made headlines for very different reasons to usual earlier this year, due to Will Smith‘s now infamous “slapping” of award presenter Chris Rock on stage.
Smith, who went on to win best actor for his performance in King Richard later on in the ceremony, was banned from the Oscars for 10 years as a result.
Read more:
Will Smith film to enter 2023 Oscars race
Will Smith breaks silence to tell Chris Rock: ‘I’m sorry’
Click to subscribe to Backstage wherever you get your podcasts
However, his latest film, Emancipation, which is due out in December and tells the true story of “Whipped Peter,” who joined the Union Army in the 1860s after escaping from slavery in Louisiana, could be in the running for a gong next year.
Oscars bosses have said they are keen to move on from the controversy, but it would be strange for Kimmel to take to the stage without referencing it in some way.
The 95th Oscars will take place on 12 March at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live on ABC.
Entertainment
Adele bids tearful farewell to Las Vegas residency as star admits she doesn’t know when she’ll perform next
John David Washington says he felt like he had to conceal his desire to act because of the external expectations of him being the child of Denzel and Pauletta Washington.
He tells Sky News it took some time for him to pursue an acting career, choosing football instead to assert his “independence” and create his own “identity” separate from his famous family.
“I’ve been wanting to do this my whole life… but I was hiding it,” he said.
“I had to conceal that passion based on my relationship to the world and more specifically, my folks being in the industry, so I chose ball.
“I loved ball, but I was sort of hiding my love for the arts under a helmet – literally an American football helmet – and so when I wanted to become an actor, when I decided to pursue it, that was a big shock to some people.”
The 40-year-old actor says when he decided to pursue an acting career, he kept the decision quiet.
“Some people didn’t know I was even pursuing it professionally until I got a job,” he said.
John David with fellow actor Danielle Deadwyler. Pic: David Lee/ Netflix
Since switching to acting, John David has starred in a number of notable roles including the protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, Ron Stallworth in BlacKkKlansman and Joshua in The Creator.
He also led the stage revival of the 2022 Tony-nominated play The Piano Lesson on Broadway alongside Samuel L Jackson.
“He [Jackson] originated the role [I play] in 1987 at Yale with Lloyd Richards and August Wilson,” John David said.
“So it was of great importance for us to learn from both he and Michael Potts about August Wilson. It was a great blessing for me, I think, for all of us to have him present on set.”
Read more from Sky News:
Squid Game creator: ‘I’ve become numb to the violence’
Rust premieres three years after fatal shooting
The Piano Lesson is the third August Wilson play to be adapted for the screen by Denzel Washington’s production company Mundy Lane Entertainment.
It is part of a pledge made by the Gladiator II actor to make all 10 of the playwright’s works into films.
The Netflix project is directed by another Washington family member, Malcolm, and stars most of the cast from the Broadway revival.
The Piano Lesson is Malcolm Washington’s directorial debut. Pic: Katia Washington/ Netflix
Set in 1936 Pittsburgh in the aftermath of the Great Depression, the film centres on a family heirloom, a piano, that is etched with the carvings of their family history made by their enslaved ancestor.
Malcolm says he started reading the play for the first time during the pandemic and immediately wanted to be involved in the film adaptation.
“I think with this movie, reclamation of story and identity is so central to the theme and it’s something that’s central to my life where I both acknowledge the fertile ground that I was raised on and who I am today.
“That’s what Wining Boy [played by Michael Potts] really is trying to do, he’s trying to build on that legacy, so that’s a story that really resonated with me.”
The filmmaker added: “I take all the gifts that my ancestors laid in front of me, and I’m trying to build something for the next generation to pass down – all of their gifts, plus mine to the next generation and let them build on it.”
Malcolm has dedicated his directorial debut to his mother, Pauletta Washington. Pic: David Lee/Netflix
Malcolm says his goal was to put family at the forefront of the production. By dedicating his feature debut to “Mama”, he is acknowledging the dedication and sacrifices that mothers make for the growth of their families.
“There’s so much pointing to my mother in particular, who inspired this adaptation so much. I see so much of her life in Berniece’s character [played by Danielle Deadwyler] – and that became a guiding light for me in this adaptation,” he said.
“As we made this thing and started reconnecting with our ancestors, my mum became like a kind of representative of them.
“She’s the matriarch of our family. She tells me about my grandparents and great-grandparents and the line that I come from, and I see them in her.
“And when the movie ends, I want people to kind of have that moment of reflection for their own lives. So in dedicating it to her, I was trying to dedicate it to all mums everywhere.”
The Piano Lesson is now available on Netflix.
Blockbuster Wicked has landed the largest opening weekend of 2024 at Vue International.
The film, starring Oscar-nominated actress Cynthia Erivo and Grammy-winning pop star Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Glinda, surpassed both Gladiator II and Paddington In Peru.
It has also had the largest opening weekend for a stage musical adaptation in the cinema chain’s history.
A boss for Vue International said it had seen a “sea of pink and green” over the weekend.
Ariana Grande (left) as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in the film. Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Released on Friday, Wicked is up 60% on Les Miserables’ opening weekend in 2012 and three times larger than the 2022 film adaptation of Matilda.
Founder and chief executive of Vue International Tim Richards said: “Vue has seen a sea of pink and green over the opening weekend of Wicked, which has shown continued high demand for the big screen experience.
“We saw record-breaking pre-sales for Wicked, followed by a chart-topping opening weekend – the biggest for 2024.”
The film is the first of two parts, with the second expected in November next year.
Wicked and Gladiator II – known together as Glicked – have reportedly failed to beat out Barbenheimer, Barbie and Oppenheimer, in its own opening weekend last summer.
Read more from Sky News:
Leicester City sack manager
Bar staff to be trained to deal with drink spiking
Army officer charged over dummy grenade alert at airport
Glicked brought in £215m in worldwide ticket sales – with Wicked making the majority of that.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports8 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway