Samuel L. Jackson Says Oscars Don't 'Move the Comma on Your Check'

More presenters have been announced for the 2022 Academy Awards!

Jessica Chastain brought a very special plus one with her to this year’s Oscar Nominees Luncheon on Tuesday.

Amy Schumer is getting ready to co-host the 2022 Oscars.

Nicole Kidman's absence at the annual Oscar nominees luncheon has a perfectly good explanation — she's recovering from an injury.ET can confirm the star is at home in Nashville, Tennessee, recovering from a torn hamstring. The 54-year-old actress had been filming her Amazon series,  in L.A., when the pre-existing injury flared up.According to , which first reported the news, producers are temporarily halting production of the Amazon series this week to figure out when they can resume and if they'll need to shoot around Kidman until she can return to the production. Kidman, nominated for her fifth Oscar following her portrayal of Lucille Ball, attended the Screen Actors Guild Awards last month in Santa Monica, California.

Oscar Nominees Luncheon. After having a virtual ceremony in 2021 due to COVID, this year, the event resumed in person at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.Will Packer, who is producing the 2022 Academy Awards, hosted the March 7th luncheon, noting in his opening remarks that “This is the year.” As part of the festivities, this year’s nominees snapped their infamous group photos marking their nominee class which included a mix of actors and actresses, cinematographers, directors, glam and styling teams, as well as sound experts.ESSENCE was on the scene to witness the Black excellence, which included an appearance from one of this year’s Black Women In Hollywood honorees.

Kristen Stewart had her fiancee Dylan Meyer by her side for a full day of pre-Oscars events!

Clayton Davis The Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon was a happy occasion full of hugs between stars, but also a sense of trepidation as the first Academy luncheon since the COVID-19 pandemic started in March 2020. With a live, in-person event held at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, with remarks from Oscars producer Will Packer and Academy president David Rubin, over 200 guests gathered to celebrate the achievements of this year’s nominees for the 94th Oscars, set to take place on March 27.Rubin’s opening remarks acknowledged the war in Ukraine and the Academy’s global support for a peaceful resolution.Some key takeaways from the event1. The Academy wants the show to be fun.Packer emceed the top of the event, praising the year’s crop of nominees.

Steven Spielberg steps out for the 2022 Oscars Nominees Luncheon held at Fairmont Century Plaza on Monday (March 7) in Los Angeles.

Deadline he “feels very strongly” about the decision, explaining he believes filmmaking is a collaborative art and “we should all have a seat at the supper table”.“I disagree with the decision made by the executive committee,” the filmmaker said.  “I feel very strongly that this is perhaps the most collaborative medium in the world. All of us make movies together, we become a family where one craft is just as indispensable as the next.“I feel that at the Academy Awards there is no above the line, there is no below the line.

Oscar watchers, Hollywood guilds that represent the categories in question and even Academy members.But on Sunday, the Film Independent Spirit Awards did the same thing by handing out its editing, cinematography and international-feature awards during commercial breaks, and then slipping edited versions of the winners’ speeches into the final segment of the telecast on IFC. And maybe because the group didn’t talk about what it was doing ahead of time, there was no real criticism of the move, which the Spirit Awards had also done in the past.

The nominations are in, there have been snubs and surprises galore, and dozens of column inches have already been dedicated to who might take home an Academy Award. But who is going to win on March 27? And who will end up empty-handed? Below, we've brought together industry whispers, bookmakers' odds, and our own honest-to-goodness opinions to present our Oscars 2022 predictions. Think of it as your cheat sheet for the big day.

One of this year’s Best Director nominees is speaking out against the Academy’s decision to pre-tape eight of the award categories before the live Oscars show this month.

Another year, another Oscars telecast filled with controversy…before the first award is handed out. It seems like every year the Academy does something that confuses and frustrates fans and the filmmaking community.

K.J. Yossman Cynthia Kaye McWilliams is one of Hollywood’s most versatile actors. Currently appearing opposite Kevin Hart in “Real Husbands of Hollywood,” which has just returned to screens for a reunion season after a six year hiatus, McWilliams is also the voice of Gamora in Marvel Studios’ animated series “What If…?” and is soon to be seen in Apple original series “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey” alongside Samuel L.

“The Lost Daughter” was the big winner, but the 2022 Film Independent Spirit Awards will also be remembered as the year that the Indie Spirits moved away from the Oscars in more ways than one.After decades as the show that takes place the Saturday afternoon before the Academy Awards (or, a couple of times, two or three days before the Oscars), the Spirit Awards moved to a Sunday three weeks earlier, with Film Independent president Josh Welsh explaining, “Shifting earlier in the awards season will allow us to shine an even brighter light on the films and shows we are excited to celebrate.”The move was considered an attempt to influence awards season more than it could in its usual spot, which takes place after Oscar voting has stopped; this year, the Spirit Awards showcased its favorites before Academy voters could even begin casting their ballots.But the date change didn’t really matter, because the Indie Spirit Awards’ connection to and influence on the Oscars has never been more minimal. And that’s likely to be true even though a few of Sunday‘s winners – supporting actor Troy Kotsur, documentary feature “Summer of Soul” and international film “Drive My Car” – will likely repeat at the Oscars in three weeks.Nothing will come out of the Spirit Awards with awards-season momentum that it didn’t already have – because this year’s Spirit nominations were so singular, and so independent, that Academy members couldn’t vote for them if they wanted to.

Mubi’s German-language, post-WWII drama Great Freedom grossed a solid $8,814 at NYC’s Film Forum this weekend, the latest in a string of foreign films to open well and with younger demos previously atypical of the genre.

A new change to the 2022 Oscars is not sitting well with some established filmmakers

Another week, another great episode of Saturday Night Live!

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentPublic service announcement to journalists: When discussing Oscars in the next few weeks, please don’t refer to “the technical categories.”Reminder to Academy/ABC decision-makers: You’ve always stated that all Oscar categories are equal, but the Feb. 22 move was a reminder that some categories are more equal than others.On that day, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced eight of Oscar’s 23 awards will be handed out before the televised ceremony. That includes five of the nine artisan categories.

The Hollywood Reporter, which first reported the news about Fleischman’s resignation.The overwhelming response from within the industry and from invested fans was fairly intense outrage over what many critics said was an insult to the people in the affected categories.Many people dinged the Academy for a decision they argued won’t actually bring in new viewers but might alienate the viewers that keep tuning in.

Paolo Sorrentino won the Foreign Language Oscar, as it was known then, in 2014 with his film The Great Beauty. He returns to the frame this year with The Hand of God, perhaps his most personal picture, which is nominated for Best International Feature. This lightly fictionalized tale of Sorrentino’s own youth in Naples, as he grappled with family tragedy, celebrated Diego Maradona’s arrival at his local football team, and took his first steps into his love of cinema, stars newcomer Filippo Scotti as Fabi Schisa, a teenager struggling to find his place in the world.

Boasting two Oscar nominations — in the International Feature and Original Screenplay races — Joachim Trier’s lauded The Worst Person in the World is continuing a charmed awards-season run that began last July at the Cannes Film Festival, where lead Renate Reinsve won the Best Actress prize. A humanist story that blends comedy and poignant drama, the film centers on Reinsve’s Julie through good times and bad as she seeks to find herself.

Amy Schumer is getting a kick out of co-hosting the upcoming 94th Annual Academy Awards, but what makes the once-in-a-lifetime experience even sweeter is being surrounded by co-hosts she has anointed “comedy royalty.”

Focus Features, Peacock, and Monkeypaw Productions have set Sept. 2 as their theatrical day-and-date release date for Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. The studios picked up the movie from Daniel Kaluuya’s 59% Productions in early February out of Sundance and made it known that it would go in cinemas and on Uni’s sister streaming service Peacock.

Ridley Scott and Francis Ford Coppola have all criticised modern superhero films to various degrees. The latter, last month, said they’re all based on the same “prototype” that is “made over and over and over again”.Jackson, who plays Nick Fury in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, addressed the criticism in an interview with The Times.“All movies are valid,” Jackson said. “Some go to the cinema to be moved dearly.

Oscar Isaac has certainly risen to the cream of the crop in Hollywood. The 42-year-old actor, who was born in Guatemala, has made his mark in Tinseltown with such gigantic blockbusters as the new Star Wars trilogy, X-Men: Apocalypse, and Dune. He’s also won accolades for his work in smaller films such as Inside Llewyn Davis, Ex-Machina and The Card Counter. Next up, he takes on the role of brooding Marvel superhero Moon Knight in the titular series coming to Disney +.

part of Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe and numerous other high profile movies over the last couple decades. At this point the only accolade he hasn’t earned is the Academy Award. He was nominated once, for Pulp Fiction, his breakout role.

The 2022 Academy Awards is just a few weeks away and the first round of celebrity presenters has been announced.

Sasha Urban editorThe Oscars announced Thursday the first six presenters for the 94th Academy Awards. The list so far includes Kevin Costner (director winner for 1991’s “Dances With Wolves”), Lady Gaga (original song winner for 2018’s “A Star is Born”), Youn Yuh-jung (supporting actress winner for 2020’s “Minari”), Rosie Perez (supporting actress nominee for 1993’s “Fearless”), Chris Rock (“Everybody Hates Chris”) and Zoë Kravitz (“The Batman”).“Movies inspire us, entertain us and unite us across the globe,” said Oscars producer Will Packer.

It's been 50 years since Samuel L. Jackson made his first on-screen appearance in the 1972 independent blaxploitation film Since then, the actor has become one of the most recognized actors of his generation, one of the highest-grossing actors of all time and has been featured in over 100 films.

When the Academy announced changes to the live telecast of this year’s Oscars, which included handing out several awards before the show begins to air on TV, folks in the industry were definitely upset. While all of the Oscars are meaningful, the ones being relegated to the pre-taped section of the show mainly focused on the behind-the-scenes folks who don’t necessarily get their moment in the sun often enough.

Lady Gaga is coming to the rescue. The Academy Award winner has stepped up and will take over hosting duties at Elton John's annual Oscars party, set for March 27.

Guillermo Del Toro is putting The Academy on blast after they decided to cut out craft categories during the live show this month.

Claudia Eller Co-Editor-in-ChiefOne of my first big initiatives after joining Variety was to launch a weekly franchise called Artisans, a dedicated feature covering the world of the talented craftspeople who toil behind the scenes on every production made in Hollywood and elsewhere: the editors, production designers, costume and makeup artists, sound engineers and other specialists whose contributions are vital to the fabric of the industry and to breathing life into the movies and television shows we watch on the big and small screens.I felt this was a part of the industry that was woefully under-covered, and therefore by devoting special space to telling their stories and profiling them in our magazine, on our website and in video interviews, we’d be giving these unsung heroes their proper due. Over the past few years, we’ve greatly expanded our coverage under the leadership of our wiz Artisans editor Jazz Tangcay, who has deep ties throughout the artistic community.