More Oscar News: The Winners’ Circle is Back!
Tuesday, February 27, 2024 at 10:00PM 
On the heels of yesterday's presenters announcement, AMPAS has revealed that it'll be reviving the winners circle presentation of the 81st Academy Awards. That means five past victors will present the acting categories, each presenter dedicating a little speech to one of the year's nominees. As someone who's yearned for its return since 2009, I can't begin to tell you how over the moon I am about this news. And judging by social media, I'm not alone. Oscar obsessives everywhere are rejoicing in anticipation while also theorizing about what stars the Oscar producers will pair together. Judging by the previous list of names, we can make some assumptions, but why not share one's own ideas instead?
If it was up to me, here's who I'd choose to present the acting nominees…
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali for Sterling K. Brown
The Moonlight and Green Book winner is actually on the list of Oscar presenters, so this pairing is likely. That doesn't make it less perfect or exciting. The two thespians started amassing renown in TV before finding success on the big screen, but, most importantly, they're real-life friends who've shared mutual admiration many times before. Ali's presentation is sure to be moving.
George Clooney for Robert Downey Jr.
I toyed with the idea of Michael Caine since he's one of Nolan's poster boys and a two-time winner. However, Clooney felt like a better fit and a more uncommon one since he's had experience directing Downey Jr. In the same year he won an Oscar for Syriana, George Clooney also released Good Night and Good Luck, one of the Oppenheimer star's first stabs at prestige after years as a tabloid tragedy.
Kevin Kline for Mark Ruffalo
In this case, let's forego personal connections and focus on similar approaches to comparable roles. Kline won his Oscar for a bizarre bit of broad comedy, negotiating the balance between his character's sensuality, menace, and buffoonery in A Fish Called Wanda. I don't know about you, but I'd love to know what he thinks of Ruffalo's take on a pathetic man guided first by his desire and then by rejection, revulsion cum pettiness.
Joe Pesci for Robert DeNiro
A no-brainer, mostly because of their many collaborations under Scorsese’s direction. Who can forget their brotherly dysfunction in Raging Bull, how they approached gangster roles with wildly different registers in Goodfellas, the bloody mess of Casino, or the aging arsenic of their The Irishman friendship?
Ke Huy Quan for Ryan Gosling
Finally, we have last year's winner, as per tradition. These actors started young, with Quan stealing scenes in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Gosling in The Mickey Mouse Club. After that, their careers went in very different directions, owing to the divergence between opportunities for white and Asian actors in the American film industry. And yet, Quan's comeback, his Oscar-winning Waymond, feels close to Gosling's Ken, and not just because of the absurdity the parts entail. After all, they're both simple comedic guys playing second fiddle to a woman they adore and is everything, everywhere, all at once.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jamie Lee Curtis for Jodie Foster
As longtime friends who started their careers around the same time, these two feel like a logical pair. Moreover, they've both played versions of Freaky Friday, further forging a connection across film history. On another note, they're iconic queens of horror, and Foster even won an Oscar for her scream queen.
Laura Dern for America Ferrera
The challenge of delivering a moratorium monologue on a woman's role is the kind of challenge that makes an actor's mouth water. It can also be a daunting prospect. Dern and Ferrera tackled their material with gusto, often fighting against writing that was sometimes more flatfooted than desired. Oh, and Noah Baumbach helped write both those screenplays.
Anne Hathaway for Emily Blunt
I loved the SAG Devil Wears Prada reunion, and I want more!
Octavia Spencer for Da'Vine Joy Randolph
Like Randolph, Spencer spent years in minor roles, climbing the ladder until she was a character actress veteran waiting for her chance to shine. And like Randolph, she swept awards season like a storm when she finally got that chance. At different points, they've both had to balance comedy and sorrow to tackle on-screen motherhood and a mother's unimaginable loss. Having The Help's Oscar winner present an Oscar to The Holdovers star would feel like a passing of the torch.
Catherine Zeta-Jones for Danielle Brooks
How do you reinvent an iconic performance, singing and dancing along the way? How do you honor those that came before while putting your stamp on the material? How do you live with the unavoidable comparison others will make to the actors who played your role on stage and in past film versions? I think Zeta-Jones could provide a beautiful reflection on the obstacles Brooks faced while also saying a sweet word about Chita Rivera, who we've so recently lost.
BEST ACTOR
Russell Crowe for Paul Giamatti
For Best Supporting Actor, I imagined a bunch of reunions for erstwhile costars. In this case, it's a Cinderella Man celebration, remembering the first time Giamatti was up for an Oscar, in 2005 while the awards community was still reeling from his Sideways snub. At long last, here's the Best Actor nomination he deserves.
Daniel Day-Lewis for Cillian Murphy
Irish pride! Who could present Murphy if not the only Irish actor ever to win the Best Actor Academy Award? Moreover, it'd be fun to have Day-Lewis discuss a thespian whose methodology and approach are radically different from his own. Alternatively, get Gary Oldman to reminisce about their scene in Oppenheimer.
Brendan Fraser for Bradley Cooper
It wasn't easy to fit Fraser into this scenario since he doesn't seem to have a connection to the year's Best Actor quintet. So, I went with Cooper, who also had to find his character's truth beneath layers of makeup and who, like Fraser, started his career in popcorn genres before graduating to the prestige drama big leagues.
Denzel Washington for Jeffrey Wright
Manchurian Candidate reunion! Moreover, it feels like justice to pair Wright with one of our lifetime's greatest Black thespians, if not the greatest. Though he's seldom found a chance to shine beyond supporting parts, Wright has a career of comparable variety and a rich filmography to boot. Also, they've both found success on the stage, and a bit of Broadway talk in the Oscar telecast could be fun.
Forest Whitaker for Colman Domingo
Lee Daniels' The Butler reunion! I toyed with the idea of Washington for Domingo, but no one wants to remember he lost the Oscar for Malcolm X. Tom Hanks was another one, but I doubt the Academy would want discourse on their history with queer roles. So, let's go with Whitaker, who was there when Domingo was shining from the sidelines, gaining momentum until he could become the full-fledged star he was always meant to be.
BEST ACTRESS
Ellen Burstyn for Lily Gladstone
The only thespian to ever win the Best Actress Oscar for a Scorsese picture, Burstyn feels like an obvious choice to present Gladstone. As someone whose best roles are marked by demonstrative emotion, it would be interesting to hear the woman who once was Alice talk about a performance as internalized as this take on Mollie Kyle.
Olivia Colman for Emma Stone
The Favourite reunion! Considering how much these two seem to love each other, this combination could result in some waterworks on the Oscar stage. Also, whenever there's an opportunity to have Olivia Colman speak during an awards ceremony, you hand her the mic and watch magic happen.
Julianne Moore for Annette Bening
The Kids are All Right reunion! Beyond this connection, there's also the way Moore, like Bening, had to wait so long for her Oscar, becoming one of American cinema's most exciting performers along the way. I'm not going to lie, I also want this combo because Nathaniel would be over the moon. Wouldn't you?
Emma Thompson for Carey Mulligan
An Education reunion! The final interaction between these two thespians in that 2009 Best Picture nominee represents some of Mulligan's best acting ever. One wonders what Thompson thought back then, watching a star being born in front of her eyes, sharing the same scenes. It could be a beautiful moment between the two.
Michelle Yeoh for Sandra Hüller
Finally, let's give it up for the Oscar's polyglot queens who came from abroad to stake their claim on Hollywood gold. Like many Evelyns, Yeoh got to explore her character's various truths in what almost amounted to different roles stitched together. In Hüller's case, she must keep the mystery of this woman, embodying two different possibilities of her truth, internalized and secret. To me, they make for a fascinating comparison.
What about you, dear reader? What would be your favorite winner-nominee pairings on Oscar night?
Reader Comments (27)
Best news I've heard in forever! The winners circle presentation has been sorely missed by this Oscar obsessive. Love the possible pairings suggestions.
I like this idea.
My ideas:
COOPER - McConaughey
DOMINGO - Whitaker
GIAMATTI - Fraser
MURPHY - Malek
WRIGHT - Washington
BENING - Moore
GLADSTONE - Blanchett
HULLER - Yeoh
MULLIGAN - Thompson
STONE - Colman
BROWN - Ali
DENIRO - Walken
DOWNEY JR - Caine
GOSLING - Quan
RUFFALO - Rockwell
BLUNT - Hathaway
BROOKS - Goldberg
FERRERA - Moreno
FOSTER - Curtis
RANDOLPH - Nyong’o
Well, I hope this doesn't mean cutting the nominees clips.
You think Jessica Lange is presenting Best Picture then if not one of the acting nominees?
Tony L -- Oh, these are just my wishlist for the pairings. I presume Lange, Rockwell, Cage, Nyong'o, and McConaughey will all be involved in these presentations.
Mmmh, I didn't loved it. I've found it long and cringe and plus I'm a supporter of #stopfeedingactorsego.
But it will be fun when they'll arrive to best supporting actress.
Emily, you did better in the past, but in fifty years the kids will know that these poor ten minutes were your first Oscar nomination and they will ask why. Hope they'll have the chance to watch Sunshine cleaning, The girl on the train or A quiet place before.
Danielle, you played Sophia as she would appear in a Family Guy sketch.
Da'vine, you're good but you're gonna win cause the rest of the lineup is terrible.
America, why the f**k are you here, girl?
Oh, idea! It would be so funny if instead of past winners they could bring drag queens reading the nominees.
Bad decision. It was one of the most boring things ever during the Oscar telecast so this (together with Jimmy Kimmel as host and "Oppenheimer" sweeping awards) probably means that this will be the least interesting Oscar ceremony in the last 96 years (maybe with the exception of the one in 2021).
Claudio - haha I get it now! I thought all your picks were confirmed presenters lol! Now I understand and am more awake haha :)
Yyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh.
My choices
Winslet for Mulligan
Roberts for Gladstone
Streep for Huller
McDormand for Stone
Lange for Bening
DeBose for Brookes
Connelly for Blunt
Mo-Nique for Randolph
Curtis for Foster
Wiest for Ferrara
If this means no clips of the nominees I hate it.
Wouldn’t it be a hoot if past winners did themselves haha like Emma Stone and Robert DeNiro LOL
Terrible decision. Long, embarassing, no clips. #stopfeedingactorsego
So, now, which below the line categories will be cut from the ceremony to put this monstrosity live?
I want some drama on that stage. The only acceptable presenter for Annette Bening is Hilary Swank. Every Oscar devotee would be glued to hear Swank laud Bening.
While I know there are a few Oscar-lovers who don't like this because it means we (likely) won't get clips, I love it. I think it gives the Oscars such a sense of history, star power, and excitement. It also is just emotional, and it's a great reminder that actors, like you, are film lovers. It also provided for some great moments (Sophia Loren saying Meryl Streep, speaking Star to Star, Shirley going off the cuff, etc.).
I am a bit disappointed that they announced this so early. It felt like a surprise in 2009, and made the show all the more exciting as we kept guessing who would present the other awards after best supporting actress.
With that being said, I think what made it feel so special last time was how they reached across decades to bring out winners (e.g., Goldie from the 70s, Eva Marie Saint from the 50s). While that's not as possible now, I hope they really give us a span of decades for each category. I also hope we get a stone cold legend, like Julie Andrews presenting.
Lastly, I hope they eschew presenters presenting to those they have obvious relationships with (Jamie Lee Curtis and Jodie Foster). I think it's more meaningful for actors to speak about what they liked in a performance when they don't know the person (e.g., Goldie to Taraji).
"I am a bit disappointed that they announced this so early."
They're tryna get people to watch lol.
I like this idea, but I'm hoping they'll incorporate clips somehow. I could see them doing a montage of the nominees' performances and then bringing out the presenters to make their speeches to each nominee.
I'm in the "don't like this" club. The one time they did this, the speeches for the nominees were not only long, they were cringe-inducing. I prefer a well-chosen clip of the performance (yes, I know the clips aren't always well chosen, but that's beside the point) over a speech someone is obviously reading from a teleprompter telling each actor how their performances could cure cancer (I'm exaggerating, of course, but that's the tone). Now, if they could sneak in a roast into every speech, maybe that could be fun.
I don't care for the winners circle either—I loved the year Michelle Pfeiffer talked about Jeff Bridges in a similar "circle" which included non-Oscar winners. Julianne Moore (who was not a winner at the time) talked about Colin Firth.
Wouldn't it be lovely to see Laura Linney talk about Mark Ruffalo, etc?
I will say that I love this Winner’s Circle concept. I even if you’re not given on Oscar, just to be lauded for your performance (by a legend) is a prize in itself.
The Academy needs to do right & show a film clip (or two) of each performance, then go back not the tribute. This ceremony can go for 5 hours and I’ll still be watching.
I’d personally invited Allison Janney and Sam Rockwell. This pair of winners got shafted the following year with presenting the Screenplay awards together because the producers wanted ‘popular’ presenters (like the ‘funny’ ladies of SNL giving the BSActress award to Regina King.
My choices:
F. Murray Abraham/Amadeus for Bradley Copper (the Jealousy Factor),
Rami Malek-Domingo
Tom Hanks - Giametti
Ben Kingsley - Murphy
Brendan Fraser - J Wright (he has to go somewhere).
Hilary Swank - Bening (the cringe factor alone, but Swank was the last female to win as an athlete).
Michelle Yeoh - Lily Gladstone (so obvious, but knowing the Academy, they’d probably recruit Halle Berry for the virtue signaling)
Meryl Streep -Sandra Huller
Frances McDormand - Carey Mulligan (she’s be reminding the Academy to give awards to the ‘young ones.’)
Cate Blanchett - Emma Stone (she knows the pain of political correctness at Oscar time).
Ke Huy Quan - Sterling K. Brown (he has to go somewhere)
Joe Pesci - DeNiro
Sam Rockwell -RDJ (gyped from presenting an award to Regina King)
Kevin Kline - Gosling
Chris Cooper - Mark Ruffalo
Marcia Gay Harden - Emily Blunt
Whoopi Goldberg- D Brooks (I was in the original)
Ariana DeBose - Ferrara (already becoming a trivia question answer)
Allison Janney - Jodie Foster (gyped from presenting M. Ali his category fraud Oscar for Green Book).
Patricia Arquette - Da’Vine Joy Randolph (Arquette, also, seems to wear low fitting gowns that make her dirty pillows pop right out).
@TOM: BS.
These are great choices. How about Meryl for Blunt? Also Leo for Cillian would be a fun Inception reunion. And I love Finbars suggestion of Swank for Bening!
Finally! Been waiting for this to come back.
That said, I don't they'll have Kevin Kline do it again. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they gender-swap it. My dream list:
Bradley Cooper - Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)
Colman Domingo - Jodie Foster (LGBT)
Paul Giamatti - Helen Mirren (The Last Station)
Cillian Murphy - Michelle Yeoh (Sunshine)
Jeffrey Wright - Frances McDormand (The French Dispatch, The Good Dinosaur)
Annette Bening - Colin Firth (Valmont)
Lily Gladstone - Leonardo DiCaprio
Sandra Hüller - Jeremy Irons (think about it)
Carey Mulligan - F. Murray Abraham (Inside Llewyn Davis)
Emma Stone - Joaquin Phoenix (Irrational Man)
Emily Blunt - Jim Broadbent (The Young Victoria)
Danielle Brooks - Denzel Washington (because Denzel)
America Ferrera - Benicio del Toro (Latinos)
Jodie Foster - Ke Huy Quan (child actors)
Da'Vine Joy Randolph - Lou Gossett, Jr. (first Black actor to win BSA)
Sterling K. Brown - Lupita Nyong'o (Black Panther)
Robert De Niro - Meryl Streep (The Deer Hunter; Falling in Love; Marvin's Room)
Robert Downey, Jr. - Jamie Lee Curtis (Hollywood kids)
Ryan Gosling - Marisa Tomei (Crazy, Stupid, Love; The Ides of March; The Big Short)
Mark Ruffalo - Rachel Weisz (The Brothers Bloom)
Couldn't figure out how to get Brendan Fraser in there...
I just think it’s tacky! Reminds me of the SNL five-timers club sketches, except those are a joke. Treating an Oscar presentation into a sorority/fraternity initiation is cringe.
It also suggests that past winners form some kind of exclusive clerisy. It takes the “Oscars are important” idea one uncomfortable step too far. Especially when we know how many actors DESERVE to be up there who’ve never won.
I really, really disliked this the first time around. It was way too self-indulgent for everyone involved. So much "sincerity" all over the place.
I don't know how they can make it better, but I sure hope they make it shorter.
Love love love it!
Bradley Cooper - Brendan Fraser
Colman Domingo - Viola Davis
Paul Giamatti - Jeremy Irons
Cillian Murphy - Christian Bale
Jeffrey Wright - Denzel Washington
Annette Bening - Kevin Costner
Lily Gladstone - Cate Blanchett
Sandra Hüller - Liv Ullmann
Carey Mulligan - Helen Mirren
Emma Stone - Michelle Yeoh
Emily Blunt - Judi Dench
Danielle Brooks - Whoopie Goldberg
America Ferrera - Penelope Cruz
Jodie Foster - Jamie Lee Curtis
Da´Vine Joy Randolph - Monique
Sterling K.Brown - Lupita Nyongo
Robert de Niro - Dustin Hoffman
Robert Downey Jr - Marisa Tomei
Ryan Gosling - Ke Huy Quan
Mark Ruffalo - Laura Linney