The Academy sent out a press release this morning announcing that the cast of The Avengers—RDJ, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Chris Evans and Samuel L. Jackson—will be presenting at the Oscars. There are a couple noticeable absences, though. Scarlett Johansson, who’s currently on Broadway so it’s conceivable she couldn’t take the time off, but where in the world is Chris Hemsworth? He has his own franchise and Thor 2 is opening later this year. I can’t imagine his wife is at all excited about missing out on going to the Oscars. He’ll be hearing about it for sure.
The Oscars is shaping up to maybe be good, right? I’m into a lot of the presenters and bits they have planned. What I find interesting, though, is that the show’s producers, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, are culling so much from the biggest films of 2012. The Avengers are presenting, there will be a Bond retrospective as well as Adele performing Skyfall live for the first time (maybe the same thing?), host Seth MacFarlane’s Ted will be making an appearance—and yet none of these films got a major nomination. There’s a level of hypocrisy in it. The Academy still, even after a rule change was made to help blockbusters get Best Picture nominations (all because a blockbuster, The Dark Knight, failed to get one it really deserved), won’t nominate a blockbuster for the big prize. They’re totally okay leveraging their popularity to draw viewers—and younger viewers—to their telecast, but god forbid they acknowledge a superhero movie or a comedy can be as good any arthouse film.
Still. The Avengers. This is some serious eye candy. I hope they all walk the red carpet. RDJ skipped it at the Golden Globes, and I think Jeremy Renner did like, a wind sprint down it because I only ever saw a couple of photos, but hopefully they’ll be there to play. The joy of The Avengers is the chemistry that cast has. I could watch them goof off together all day long. Certainly Chris Evans will be out to play—it’s his first time at the big show. Has anyone else’s career done the 180 his has over the last couple years? When he was cast as Captain America in 2010 he was settling into his role as a B-movie actor, and now he’s going to the Oscars and making movies with Tilda Swinton. This is what Marvel does for you. This is why it’s a big deal when people get cast in their movies. This is why Chris Pratt wakes up today saying, I am the luckiest man alive. Because in a couple years, this could be him, invited to stand on stage at the Academy Awards. It’s their dream. For all of them, this is their dream.
