Me speaking at the Oscar luncheon.
Whew, the Oscars are finally over, I’m almost recovered so I wanted to document some of the high points with articles and pictures I was too busy to post while it was all happening.
All photos either by me or the Andrew Cooper.
The big board. This is the show. Each strip of paper is a moment, divided into 14 acts. We’ve sweated over this thing for months. Then it turned to paper, then actual events broadcast worldwide.
Me with AMPAS president Cheryl Boone Isaacs at the Sci-Tech Awards.
It’s a parking space at the Dolby Theater, where the Oscars are held. It’s not a big deal. But these little things make it very real to me.
Reserved parking at Capitol Studios where we worked with Sam Smith, Dave Grohl and Lady Gaga on their Oscar performances.
Me, Byron Phillips and composer Danny Elfman.
Now we’re in the final rehearsals.
The beautiful Oscar stage. We changed the look for every act, and every award.
Chris Rock gives my son Alexander valuable advice.
My son got chilly so I gave him my coat.
AMPAS CEO Dawn Hudson, ABC Ben Sherwood, Chris Rock and I have a good time.
Rock and I work it out.
Meanwhile my daughter Helena plays on my phone.
She preps her Oscar speech while her mother Chrisette looks on.
The custom made floor for the Oscars. The detail is incredible.
We brought the band back from performing down the street at Capitol Records to back in the pit of the Dolby Theater.
The day before the show, the producers meet with all the presenters, fine tune their introductions, and rehearse on stage. JJ Abrams leaves us laughing. He has an amazing wit.
Quincy Jones was the first black producer of the Oscars. There were protests by Jesse Jackson the year he did the show. The more things change….
Whoopi was a staunch supporter of the show despite calls for the boycott. She hosted the show the year Quincy produced it.
Pharrell and Quincy rehearse on stage.
Security passes for special guests.
Security on the approach to the Oscars is air tight.
But they are still nice to mom as she approaches in the limo.
The Hudlin family on the Red Carpet. Success is nothing without someone you love to share it with.
Hanging with the family right before showtime.
Chris Rock – Oscar’s Monologue 2016 (Eng Subs)
Louis CK Gives Hilarious Intro To Short Doc Filmmakers
Shot of my daughter Helena discussing the show with my wife Chrisette.
All the way to the far right, there’s my daughter, and a helpful viewer is pointing out my son Alexander.
The bear from Revenant waits for his time to shine.
I don’t know how they nabbed this shot of me moving through the crowd between acts, but I guess it was in the show.
While the show was going on, power couple Steve and Candace McKeever hosted an Oscar viewing party with a lot of our friends. So nice!
And just like that, it was over.
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by Emily Krauser
Outrage over the lack of diversity among nominees at the Oscars will not keep Chris Rock from his hosting duties, the show’s producer told ET exclusively.
ET’s Nischelle Turner sat down with Academy Awards producer Reginald Hudlin at the 47th NAACP Image Awards Nominee Luncheon on Saturday, where he confirmed that Rock will not be dropping out of the show.
Hudlin also revealed that though the 50-year-old comedian finished writing his monologue a week ago, once the #OscarsSoWhite outrage came to a head with Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith’s pledge to boycott, Rock scrapped his jokes and started working on a new script.
“Chris is hard at work. He and his writing staff locked themselves in a room,” Hudlin told ET. “As things got a little provocative and exciting, he said, ‘I’m throwing out the show I wrote and writing a new show.'”
“Chris is that thorough,” Hudlin added. “He’s that brilliant, and I have 1000 percent confidence that he will deliver something that people will be talking about for weeks.”
According to Hudlin, Rock isn’t steering away from the issue of a white-washed group of nominees, but rather diving right into the fire.
“You should expect [#OscarsSoWhite jokes],” Hudlin told ET. “And, yes, the Academy is ready for him to do that. They’re excited about him doing that. They know that’s what we need. They know that’s what the public wants, and we deliver what the people want.”
The Academy Awards ceremony won’t take place until Feb. 28, but Rock has already addressed the controversy, tweeting an ad for the Oscars and writing, “The #Oscars. The White BET Awards.”
This will be Rock’s second time hosting the Oscars. His first emcee gig came in 2005.
Earlier this week, ET spoke to Viola Davis, who said the real problem wasn’t with the Oscars but rather the films that are being produced, as the majority do not predominately feature actors of color. The How to Get Away With Murder star said that though Tyrese had suggested Rock drop the gig, it was up to Rock to decide for himself.
“Like I said, the Oscars are not really the issue,” she said. “It’s a symptom of a much greater disease. But if he does [host], I hope he takes it as an opportunity to make a statement, a social statement about change. It’s 2016.”
The Pinkett-Smiths have been two of the loudest dissenters against this year’s predominately white nominations — the second year in a row that the discrepancy has occurred — but they’re far from the only actors to speak out. In addition to Davis and Tyrese, George Clooney, Whoopi Goldberg, Tessa Thompson, Lupita Nyong’o and Stacey Dash are among the many who’ve weighed in on both the nominations and possible boycotts.
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By Faryn Shiro and
Kelly Hagan, ABC News
This year’s Academy Awards may be an Oscars show like we’ve never seen before thanks to two men behind the scenes who have been nicknamed “the two dads.”
David Hill, a veteran producer of sports and concert events, and Reginald Hudlin, a writer, director and producer, are producing this year’s Oscars. The occasion marks both the first time the men have worked together and the first time they’ve produced Hollywood’s biggest awards show.
Hudlin told “Good Morning America” co-anchor Lara Spencer that the “two dads” nickname “evolved over the last couple of months” as the pair crafted the awards show. When they first met, Hudlin said the two knew right away what had to be done at this year’s Oscars.
“We agreed that Chris Rock should be the host, and we agreed to bring the orchestra back into the theater,” said Hudlin, who was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar as producer of “Django Unchained” in 2012.
“There’s an embarrassment of riches,” Hill added of Rock’s comedy gold mine. “Let’s put it that way.”
Rock is expected to address the #OscarsSoWhite controversy that erupted after the all-white slate of acting nominations was announced. Hudlin and Hill said the controversy has not impacted their plans for the broadcast.
“We wanted a show that looked like America, that looked like the world,” Hudlin said. “Most of our booking was done before the nominees were announced.”
Hill, who won an Emmy for producing the 2011 World Series broadcast and is a former executive producer of “American Idol,” said the pair also looked at social media, asking the question, “Who do people really, really follow?”
“We just wanted to get the biggest, best talent we could get,” Hudlin added. “And, of course, the most talented people in our business.”
An array of new faces is just the beginning of the changes made by Hill and Hudlin. The pair are also completely changing the order of the awards given out.
“I want people to watch and be surprised,” Hudlin said. “You’re going to be seeing things the way you’ve never seen them before.”
“We’re making the show, and the order of the show, for people who love films,” said Hill.
One already-announced change is that the names of family, friends and colleagues the winners want to thank in their speeches will be scrolled at the bottom of the screen as the winners are speaking. The idea is to give the winners more time.
“There’s gonna be a lot of experimentation,” Hudlin said. “Some of it may work and some of it doesn’t work, but it’s something new.”
Winners will receive an Oscar statue that is now completely hand-cast in bronze before getting its 24-karat finish and the Oscar stage will glitter in gold itself thanks to more than 200,000 Swarovski crystals.
“My biggest inspiration this year was 1970s glam and, of course, the theme of this year’s show, which is that everyone dreams in gold,” set designer Derek McLane told ABC News.
This year the show will open with an animated short set to a musical score created by famed composer Danny Elfman.
“It is kind of a fantasy factory of how Oscars are made,” Elfman said.
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With CAA agent Cameron Mitchell, Oscars producer Reggie Hudlin, Common’s manager Derek Dudley at the Governor’s Ball. Glad to support Reggie, a friend for over thirty years, as he worked to impact the most important cinema awards event in the world.
Dave Chappelle showed up to support Chris Rock. He was backstage the entire show.
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