The 2023 Oscars — or the 95th Academy Awards — has almost dawned upon us, celebrating exceptional performers and storytellers in the film industry for the past year. A whopping 10 movies are vying for the top honour of Best Picture this year, with critical darling Everything Everywhere All at Once bagging 11 nominations. Meanwhile, the German anti-war epic All Quiet on the Western Front has tied with Martin McDonagh’s latest Irish black comedy The Banshees of Inisherin, scoring nine nods each. The 2023 Oscars will be hosted by comedian Jimmy Kimmel, who last appeared at the ceremony in 2018.
After last year’s Will Smith slap incident, the Academy is bringing in a ‘crisis team’ to handle any unexpected, real-time emergencies during the ceremony. “We have a whole crisis team, something we’ve never had before, and many plans in place,” Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) CEO, Bill Kramer confirmed in an interview. “We’ve run many scenarios. So it is our hope that we will be prepared for anything that we may not anticipate right now but that we’re planning for just in case it does happen.” The organisation admitted to its security team’s response not being swift enough, allowing Smith to freely march up the stage and slap presenter Chris Rock, over a joke he made about Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head, which she shaved off following an alopecia diagnosis.
2023 Oscars date and time
In India, the Oscars 2023 is scheduled to take place live in the early hours of Monday, March 13, at 5:30am IST. For US audiences, this translates to Sunday, March 12, at 8pm ET/ 5pm PT. The event will be broadcast live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, exclusively on the ABC network.
How to watch the 2023 Oscars in India
The 2023 Oscar Awards will be streamed live exclusively on Disney+ Hotstar in India, alongside Indonesia.
A Disney+ Hotstar subscription costs Rs. 299 per month for a Premium subscription, which will let you watch the Oscars 2023 There’s a Super plan as well, which allows for 1080p streaming at Rs. 899 per year, albeit it comes with advertisements.
2023 Oscars presenters and performers
As mentioned before, Kimmel will be playing host at the 2023 Oscars, introducing any upcoming presenters and performances (I hope he doesn’t waste too much time with his jokes). This year’s ceremony will see a long line of stars, who will present awards in various categories, including Halle Berry, Paul Dano, Cara Delevingne, Harrison Ford, Kate Hudson, Mindy Kaling, Eva Longoria, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Andie MacDowell, Elizabeth Olsen, John Travolta, and current Internet favourite Pedro Pascal.
Previously announced presenters include Halle Bailey, Antonio Banderas, Elizabeth Banks, Emily Blunt, Jessica Chastain, John Cho, Glenn Close, Jennifer Connelly, Ariana DeBose, Andrew Garfield, Hugh Grant, Danai Gurira, Salma Hayek Pinault, Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne Johnson, Michael B. Jordan, Nicole Kidman, Troy Kotsur, Jonathan Majors, Melissa McCarthy, Janelle Monáe, Deepika Padukone, Florence Pugh, Questlove, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Donnie Yen, and Riz Ahmed. Ahmed also revealed the Oscar nominations, earlier this year, with Allison Williams (Get Out).
The Indian action epic RRR’s energetic track ‘Naatu Naatu’ will be performed live at the 2023 Oscars, with composer M.M. Keeravani promising the dance aspect as well, with some stars joining on stage. The track has been nominated in the Best Original Song category this year, competing against the likes of Top Gun: Maverick’s ‘Hold My Hand,’ ‘Lift Me Up’ from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, ‘This Is a Life’ from Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Tell It Like a Woman’s ‘Applause.’
Rihanna will be making an appearance to perform the Black Panther 2 track, while Best Supporting Actress nominee Stephanie Hsu joins musician David Byrne and music trio Son Lux for a rendition of ‘This is a Life.’ Sonia Carson and Dianne Warren will also perform ‘Applause’ live on stage, with the latter marking her 14th Oscar nomination.
Top Gun: Maverick’s ‘Hold My Hand,’ however, will not be performed live at the 2023 Oscars since its vocalist Lady Gaga won’t be able to make it to the ceremony. “We invited all five nominees. We have a great relationship with Lady Gaga and her camp. She is in the middle of shooting a movie right now,” Glenn Weiss, executive producer, Oscars, confirmed earlier this week (via Variety). “Here, we are honouring the movie industry and what it takes to make a movie after a bunch of back and forth… It didn’t feel like she can get a performance to the calibre that we’re used to with her and that she is used to. So, she is not going to perform on the show.”
2023 Oscars nominees
As mentioned before, the uber-creative Everything Everywhere All at Once leads the pack with 11 nominations, including Best Picture, Michelle Yeoh for Best Actress, Ke Huy Quan for Best Supporting Actor, and Jamie Lee Curtis for Best Supporting Actress. Of course, the directing duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert — colloquially known as Daniels — have secured nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay as well.
Both Barry Keoghan and Ana de Armas earned their first Oscar nominations for The Banshees of Inisherin and Blonde, respectively. Meanwhile, Brendan Fraser made a dramatic return to mainstream Hollywood with The Whale, earning a nod amongst the best actors of the year.
From India, we have three Oscar nominees, including the aforementioned ‘Naatu Naatu’ track from RRR. Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes competes to be crowned the Best Documentary Feature Film, while Kartiki Gonsalves’ The Elephant Whisperers is nominated for Best Documentary Short Film.
All Quiet on the Western Front appears to be a top contender this year with nine nominations, including in the Best Picture category. The film previously took home the biggest prize at this year’s BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Film Awards, in addition to six other trophies.