By Lindsey Bahr, AP Film Writer
Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh is going behind the scenes for the next Academy Awards. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Tuesday that Soderbergh, "Erin Brokovich" producer Stacey Sher and awards show veteran Jesse Collins have come on board to produce the 93rd Oscars telecast.
It's the first time producing the annual film awards for all three, who are taking up the mantle from last year's producers Lynette Howell Taylor and Stephanie Allain.
The 93rd Academy Awards were delayed two months earlier this year because of COVID-19's effects on the film industry, but the show will still be televised live on ABC on April 25, 2021. No official announcements have been made as to whether 93rd Oscars will be virtual, as many other awards shows including the Emmys have done because of the pandemic, although signs point to a willingness to adapt to the moment.
Academy President David Rubin and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson said that this upcoming show is "the perfect occasion for innovation and re-envisioning the possibilities for the awards show."
Collins also has experience. Earlier this year produced the virtual BET Awards and is also producing the Grammy Awards and the Super Bowl halftime show.
"Jesse, Stacey and Steven are the ideal storytellers to harness the uniqueness of this moment," said Craig Erwich, president of Hulu Originals and ABC Entertainment.
Last year's show, the second in a row without a host, had the smallest audience ever of 23.6 million viewers, down 20% from the year prior.
Local school staple “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” from 1939 hits the big screen nationwide
Most Maine schoolchildren know about the boy lost for more than a week in 1939 after climbing the state's tallest mountain. Now the rest of the U.S. is getting in on the story.
Opening in 650 movie theaters on Friday, "Lost on a Mountain in Maine" tells the harrowing tale of 12-year-old Donn Fendler, who spent nine days on Mount Katahdin and the surrounding wilderness before being rescued. The gripping story of survival commanded the nation's attention in the days before World War II and the boy's grit earned an award from the president.
For decades, Fendler and Joseph B. Egan's book, published the same year as the rescue, has been required reading in many Maine classrooms, like third-grade teacher Kimberly Nielsen's.
"I love that the overarching theme is that Donn never gave up. He just never quits. He goes and goes," said Nielsen, a teacher at Crooked River Elementary School in Casco, who also read the book multiple times with her own kids.
Separated from his hiking group in bad weather atop Mount Katahdin, Fendler used techniques learned as a Boy Scout to survive. He made his way through the woods to the east branch of the Penobscot River, where he was found more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from where he started. Bruised and cut, starved and without pants or shoes, he survived nine days by eating berries and lost 15 pounds (7 kilograms).
The boy's peril sparked a massive search and was the focus of newspaper headlines and nightly radio broadcasts. Hundreds of volunteers streamed into the region to help.
The movie builds on the children's book, as told by Fendler to Egan, by drawing upon additional interviews and archival footage to reinforce the importance of family, faith and community during difficult times,... Read More