What to watch out for at the Oscars tonight?

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Will director Jane Campion (pictured) walk away with a golden statuette? Will records be broken? And will millions of viewers ever get ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ out of their heads? Here are five things to watch for at the ceremony: Image Credit: AFP

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‘Twitter Oscars’?: Producers have introduced two prizes chosen by popular vote for the ceremony — a ‘fan favorite’ film from this year, and an ‘Oscars cheer moment’ from any movie in history. While winners won’t receive actual Academy Awards, disgruntled critics complain that “real” prizes are being forced to make way for a ‘Twitter Oscars,’ given that a handful of awards will be presented ahead of the main broadcast. “As if we’re going to have a random Twitter user hand an Oscar to Meryl Streep! That’s not what’s happening,” said the show’s producer Will Packer. “Sometimes the show has felt like ‘It’s just us, just Hollywood, no one else is invited,’” he added. “This year, we want it to be a little more open in our embrace of the public.” How the prizes will be handed out — and how the experiment will be received — remains to be seen. Image Credit: AP

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‘Godfather’ and Bond anniversaries: The gala will honour not just the movies nominated this year, but also timeless classics such as ‘The Godfather,’ which turned 50 this week. “We’re going to have Francis Ford Coppola’s classic, we’re going to honor it. We got some surprises around that, wink wink,” said Packer. Image Credit: Paramount Pictures

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Packer also hinted that ‘60 years of Bond’ would be “on the show.” The first 007 outing, ‘Dr No,’ was released in 1962. Billie Eilish is already set to perform her theme song from latest Bond flick ‘No Time To Die.’ What else is in store? Image Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios

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Power of the women: ‘Power of the Dog’ director Jane Campion recently suggested it was “time to claim a sense of victory” in breaking Hollywood’s glass ceiling for women. Sunday’s Oscars could further that claim. Campion is expected to become the third female best director in Oscars history - just a year after Chloe Zhao became the second (‘Nomadland’). Kathryn Bigelow was the first for ‘The Hurt Locker.’ More astonishingly, her cinematographer Ari Wegner is only the second woman nominated in her male-dominated field, after 94 years of Oscars history. Can she become the first winner? Image Credit: AFP

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Anita repeat-er? On the surface, Batman’s nemesis Joker, Don Corleone from ‘The Godfather’ and Anita from ‘West Side Story’ don’t have a great deal in common. But if Ariana DeBose (pictured) wins for best supporting actress — as widely expected — it will be a rare instance of two performers winning Oscars for playing the same fictional character. Robert De Niro bagged his first Academy Award playing the younger version of Marlon Brando’s mafia boss in ‘The Godfather: Part Two,’ while Joaquin Phoenix in ‘Joker’ followed up Heath Ledger’s posthumous prize for “The Dark Knight.” Can DeBose emulate the great Rita Moreno? Image Credit: AP

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Bruno-no-no: ‘Hamilton’ creator Lin-Manuel Miranda is the frontrunner for best song with ‘Dos Oruguitas,’ which will be performed on Sunday — but a different tune from Disney’s ‘Encanto’ is more likely to interest viewers. Viral sensation ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ will be performed live by its cast for the first time. The catchy Latin pop song about a mysterious, troublesome uncle has spawned over a million TikTok videos, topped the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks, and is Disney’s most popular song in years. “If there is a song that unites people this year, that is kind of the epitome, to me of what movies can do,” said Packer, noting it has been sung by fans around the world “ad nauseum” this year. “We’re going to help them out so they sing it a little bit more. Our apologies to the parents,” he added. Image Credit: DISNEY

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Beyonce is back: Queen Bey will take the stage as a nominee for Best Original Song. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced last week that Beyonce will perform ‘Be Alive’ from ‘King Richard’, a song for which she is nominated alongside her co-writer Dixson. This would be her first live performance in almost two years. Beyonce hasn’t taken the stage for a live performance since February 2020 when she performed ‘XO’ and ‘Halo’ at Kobe and Gianna Bryant’s A Celebration of Life. Two months later, amid the pandemic, she remotely joined other singing stars on Zoom for The Disney Family Singalong in April 2020 where she sang ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’. Her last performance on an award show stage was at the 2017 Grammy Awards where she sang ‘Love Drought’ and ‘Sandcastles’ off her sixth studio album ‘Lemonade’. Image Credit: AP

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