Lupita Nyong’o has the same birthday as Justin Bieber. And this is a great example of why I’m more of a Chinese Zodiac girl than a western Zodiac girl. As we saw earlier this week and again to end the week, Lupita spent her birthday in Mexico with Joshua Jackson where they were photographed unmistakably this time as a couple.
But just in case the message wasn’t clear enough, a new set of pap shots are now making the rounds of the two of them looking hornier than ever on their trip. Which is probably over by now. That’s usually how the pap agencies work with these exclusives – they sit on the shots for a couple of days, either to make sure they can get more and don’t alert competitors, and or to not scare off the people they’re photographing, or all of the above, although Lupita and Josh don’t seem to be all that bothered. (Note from Emily: the photos were indeed taken on March 2nd, according to the agency.)
Photo Assumption is not all that reliable, and we can’t say for certain that they’re out here not caring about the paps documenting their romantic getaway, but both by now have been famous long enough to also have a sense of when this might be happening. And if they knew the paps were there, they weren’t hiding.
There is, however, another reason to assume that Lupita and Joshua are back from their holiday: the Oscars. Lupita is presenting. And it’s the tenth anniversary of her Oscar win back in 2014 in the Best Supporting Actress category for her performance in 12 Years A Slave, which also went on to win Best Picture.
As Sarah has already mentioned, the Oscars this year are bringing back the five presenter format – which, at least where I live, is popular. For those of us who are Oscar junkies, this was such a great way to announce the acting winners. Not only does it increase the celebrity count at the Oscars, you could tell how much the nominees and eventual winners loved it: they are being honoured by several of their peers, welcomed into an exclusive club, as each previous winner’s duty is to present one nominee before the envelope is opened.
Will Lupita, then, be included among the Best Supporting Actresses who will very likely be embracing their newest member Da’Vine Joy Randolph?
In addition to Lupita, there are six Best Supporting Actresses among the list of presenters that the Academy has confirmed to date. I think it’s safe to assume that Jamie Lee Curtis, the reigning Best Actress Oscar winner will be presenting this category, leaving four spots open between:
Lupita
Jessica Lange
Regina King
Rita Moreno
Octavia Spencer
Mary Steenbergen
Of those six, I think we take out Jessica Lange, because while her first Oscar was in the supporting category (for Tootsie), her second was for Best Actress (for Blue Sky – and it’s the 30th anniversary of her win).
My prediction, then, for the Best Supporting Actresses presenters are as follows:
Lupita
Regina
Octavia
Mary
All these women are big f-cking deals in their own right, but Rita Moreno, at 92, is truly a living legend. I don’t think she’ll be grouped, although Kyle Buchanan’s prediction is that Rita will actually be in the group and not Lupita.
While we’re here though, we might as well look at how the other three acting category presenters are shaping up:
Best Supporting Actor:
Mahershala Ali
Ke Huy Quan
Tim Robbins
Sam Rockwell
Christoph Waltz
Best Actor:
Nicolas Cage
Brendan Fraser
Ben Kingsley
Matthew McConaughey
Forest Whitaker
Al Pacino is also a Best Actor winner but, I mean, he’s Al Pacino so if there’s any one Best Actor winner from the list of announced presenters who they wouldn’t group with others, he’d probably be the one.
Best Actress:
Sally Field
Jessica Lange
Jennifer Lawrence
Charlize Theron
Michelle Yeoh
The next level of predictions will be which Oscar winners present which performers. Like who does Michelle introduce? Lily Gladstone? And does Jennifer Lawrence get to gush over her very close friend Emma Stone?
I love this format, and while I get why the Academy doesn’t pull it out too often so as to keep it special, for Oscar junkies like us, this is the kind nerd level sh-t we get excited over.
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