This year’s Oscars ceremony will be implementing “hubs” for nominees in London and Paris.
Following the Academy’s initial and controversial “no-Zoom rule”, which aimed to encourage all nominees to travel to Los Angeles for the ceremony, the telecast producers are now introducing new physical locations.
- READ MORE: Oscars 2021 nominations – see the full list
“We can just promise you that we will be more transparent from this point forward,” filmmaker Steven Soderbergh, one of the producers alongside Jesse Collins and Stacey Sher, told nominees on a Zoom call, per the Hollywood Reporter.
The Oscars’ COVID-19 consultant Dr. Erin Bromage also said that those who travel to Los Angeles will have to quarantine in compliance with Los Angeles County policies.
“We have built a state-of-the-art testing facility just for the Academy Awards,” Bromage explained.
Soderbergh then added that those who need to quarantine will have their costs covered by “partners to the show that we have relationships with — airlines and hotels”.
Regarding the ceremony itself, he explained: “We’ve turned it into kind of a cocktail party, essentially. Nominees will be rotated throughout the evening so we don’t exceed the limit in the main road.”
Soderbergh also explained that Oscars attendees will be asked to bring face masks. “It’s still in play,” he said. “And as soon as we know more, we will tell you. It’s that fluid.”
The filmmaker remained adamant on a lack of Zoom presentations were possible, saying: ‘”The Z Word? Look, let’s just say, we hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“This is the pinnacle,” Collins said of the impact of the ceremony. “This is the biggest live event in the world. And there is an expectation of creative excellence… and one of the most important parts of that is the communal part of it.”
Check out the full list of nominees for the 2021 Oscars here.
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