The red carpet is not actually red; it’s more like a burgundy.

Get ready for the Oscars’ politically tinged acceptance speeches — and likely more than 45 minutes of advertising.

Before I get to all of the tidbits around the Academy and the Dolby Theatre, I’ll bore you with my winners prognostication. Before you roll your eyes, remember that I started covering the Academy Awards six years ago and my picks have been accurate to the point I want to fly to London back them up with a little bit of cash. For the record, I’ve gone  on in the major categories with 37 out of 44 correct selections. Here’s the Media Guy choices for the telecast on Sunday:

Best Picture
La La Land

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Emma Stone, La La Land

Just to remind everyone…Spielberg and I have two Oscars combined!

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Viola Davis, Fences

Directing
Damien Chazelle, La La Land

Animated Feature Film
Zootopia

Foreign Language Film
The Salesman, Iran

Writing (Original Screenplay)
Manchester by the Sea, Kenneth Lonergan

THE COMMERCIALS

Last year’s Oscars drew over 34 million total viewers, Because of that number, a thirty-second commercial on the Oscars telecast will cost you a cool $2 million. This is the most expensive TV buy after the Super Bowl.

Last year’s Oscars featured 80 commercials which generated $115 million in ad revenue which is about equal to the Grammys and Golden Globes combined.

GOVERNOR’S BALL MENU

The 1,500 guests to the Governor’s Ball expect some of Wolfgang Puck’s traditional specialties, but each year they are treated to new dishes to sample, including this year’s treats: gold-dusted popcorn, sweet pea falafel, taro root tacos with shrimp and mango, spice gougeres with black truffle dust, lobster corn dogs and parsnip agnolotti.  no small undertaking…

…It takes a lot of fish and cheese to feed that many guests: 3,500 miso tuile cones, 15 pounds of truffles, 350 pounds of Atlantic tuna, 7,500 shrimp, 2,375 pretzels, 4,250 pieces of handmade gnoccetti and 150 pounds of arugula. And don’t forget the Oscar-shaped smoked salmon matzos.

Dessert stations will offer lava cakes, red velvet waffles, and a chocolate buffet with treats including caramel cappucino Oscar lollipops and bonbons in movie theater flavors like Sour Patch Kids.

THE OSCARS SWAG BAG

A pelvic floor exercise tracker, a sweat absorber and a CPR kit might not seem the most exciting of gifts for anyone, let alone a Hollywood star. But these, along with a Hawaiian holiday, a California ranch experience and personal training sessions are just some of the gifts in the unofficial Oscars swag bag courtesy of Los Angeles-based Distinctive Assets.

A five-night holiday to Kōloa Landing, a luxurious resort on Hawaii’s Kauai island is included, costing around $1,150 a night, along with a week at Golden Door, an exclusive California spa where a “Classic Women’s Week” costs around $8,850.

If the nominee prefers a European adventure, then a three-night stay in a suite at the Grand Hotel Tremezzo on Lake Como is also on offer, which retails at around $1,400 a night, before taxes. Also in the swag bag are three nights in the Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria in Sorrento, where a suite costs upwards of $700 a night.

Quirkier gifts include a hydrating mist “for improved vocal cord management and skin regeneration,” a SweetCheeks cellulite massage mat, and a t-shirt from Happiest Tee, to “celebrate your happy place.”

NOMINEES QUESTIONNAIRES

This year, the Academy released some of the questionnaires submitted by the nominees providing a fascinating look at the the stars. Here’s a couple of note…Nicole Kidman and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The post Oscars Week 2017: My Picks appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

It’s Oscar® Week and that means I’m the Media Guy by day and the Oscars Guy by night. Before I let you know about the happenings this week in Beverly Hills and Hollywood, I want to say that I’m pretty moved that Saturday Night Live picked up on my outrage over the pandering of the Super Bowl LI sponsors and parodied it:

So what does Oscar Week mean? It means a lot of nights in Beverly Hills at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater leading up to the red carpet madness on Sunday. The rare chance to dive into the minds of filmmakers and producers is at the forefront with the excellent symposiums that the Academy of Arts and Sciences allows access to folks like me on the five days leading up to the telecast.

The lineup is beyond hyperbole, but rest assured, it is amazing:

Last night – SHORTS: ANIMATED AND LIVE ACTION, hosted by Dead Pool director Tim Miller. More on this one on other media outlets (yes, I’ll post links), but Miller was the best symposium host in the six years I have been going to Oscar Week events. He was honest, funny, intelligent and obviously channeling his inner Dead Pool. All I can say is I want more of Tim Miller movies. Like now.

Tonight – DOCUMENTARIES, hosted by Documentary Branch Governors Kate Amend and Rory Kennedy

Thursday – ANIMATED FEATURES, hosted by Pete Docter (Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Up, writer) and Jonas Rivera (Inside Out and Up Producer)

Saturday – FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILMS

Also Saturday – MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING SYMPOSIUM

For those of you that care about such things, I will do my darnedest to get my Annual Backstage at the Oscars column up fast on Sunday night. That’s always a tricky proposition to transcribe the winners’ speeches and fact check it all. Traditionally, these are among the most read columns of the year and this year was no different with the 2016 column still in the top three as I write this. In case you missed any, here are the previous five Backstage columns:

Usually I wait for the Sidebars about the Oscars, but I thought you should be prepared earlier, rather than later. Without further ado…

Uncle Oscar always looks so good!

• With 14 nominations, La La Land ties the record held by All about Eve (1950) and Titanic (1997).
• With their Best Picture nominations for Moonlight, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner become the first individual producers to have nominations in the Best Picture category in four consecutive years.
• La La Land is the first musical with original music and story to receive a Best Picture nomination since All That Jazz (1979) and the second since Anchors Aweigh (1945).
• With his Best Picture nomination for Manchester by the Sea, Matt Damon becomes only the third individual to be nominated in the Acting, Writing and Best Picture categories. The others are Warren Beatty and George Clooney.
• Denzel Washington is the seventh individual to receive Acting and Best Picture nominations for the same film, joining Warren Beatty, Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Bradley Cooper.
• In the acting categories, seven individuals are first-time nominees (Andrew Garfield, Mahershala Ali, Lucas Hedges, Dev Patel,
• Isabelle Huppert, Ruth Negga and Naomie Harris). Six of the nominees are previous acting winners (Denzel Washington, Jeff Bridges, Natalie Portman, Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Octavia Spencer).
• Meryl Streep extends her lead as the most nominated performer with her 20th nomination.
• Kubo and the Two Strings is the second fully animated film to be nominated in the Visual Effects category. The first was The Nightmare before Christmas (1993).
• With a running time of 7 hours 47 minutes, Documentary Feature nominee O.J.: Made in America is the longest film ever nominated for an Academy Award.
• Mica Levi, nominated for Original Score for Jackie, is the eighth woman to be nominated in the music scoring categories.
• Thomas Newman’s nomination for Original Score for Passengers is his 14th and brings the total for members of the Newman family (Alfred, Lionel, Emil, Thomas, David and Randy) to 90, more than any other family.
• Stuart Craig has the most nominations for Production Design of any living person with 11. The all-time record in the category belongs to Cedric Gibbons with 38 nominations.
• Kevin O’Connell and Andy Nelson, each with 21 nominations for Sound Mixing, are tied for the most nominations in the category since nominations began going to individuals in 1961.
• With their nomination for Sound Editing for La La Land, Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan become the first female team to be nominated in the category. Six other women have a combined total of 10 nominations and five wins for Sound Editing.
• Kim Magnusson, with his sixth nomination for Live Action Short Film, has produced the most films nominated in the short film categories of any living person.
• “The Empty Chair” from Jim: The James Foley Story is the seventh song from a documentary feature to be nominated and the fifth in the past five years.

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