On the heels of yesterday's presenters announcement, AMPAS has revealed that it'll be reviving the winners circle presentation of the 81st Academy Awards. That means five past victors will present the acting categories, each presenter dedicating a little speech to one of the year's nominees. As someone who's yearned for its return since 2009, I can't begin to tell you how over the moon I am about this news. And judging by social media, I'm not alone. Oscar obsessives everywhere are rejoicing in anticipation while also theorizing about what stars the Oscar producers will pair together. Judging by the previous list of names, we can make some assumptions, but why not share one's own ideas instead?
If it was up to me, here's who I'd choose to present the acting nominees…
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali for Sterling K. Brown
The Moonlight and Green Book winner is actually on the list of Oscar presenters, so this pairing is likely. That doesn't make it less perfect or exciting. The two thespians started amassing renown in TV before finding success on the big screen, but, most importantly, they're real-life friends who've shared mutual admiration many times before. Ali's presentation is sure to be moving.
George Clooney for Robert Downey Jr.
I toyed with the idea of Michael Caine since he's one of Nolan's poster boys and a two-time winner. However, Clooney felt like a better fit and a more uncommon one since he's had experience directing Downey Jr. In the same year he won an Oscar for Syriana, George Clooney also released Good Night and Good Luck, one of the Oppenheimer star's first stabs at prestige after years as a tabloid tragedy.
Kevin Kline for Mark Ruffalo
In this case, let's forego personal connections and focus on similar approaches to comparable roles. Kline won his Oscar for a bizarre bit of broad comedy, negotiating the balance between his character's sensuality, menace, and buffoonery in A Fish Called Wanda. I don't know about you, but I'd love to know what he thinks of Ruffalo's take on a pathetic man guided first by his desire and then by rejection, revulsion cum pettiness.
Joe Pesci for Robert DeNiro
A no-brainer, mostly because of their many collaborations under Scorsese’s direction. Who can forget their brotherly dysfunction in Raging Bull, how they approached gangster roles with wildly different registers in Goodfellas, the bloody mess of Casino, or the aging arsenic of their The Irishman friendship?
Ke Huy Quan for Ryan Gosling
Finally, we have last year's winner, as per tradition. These actors started young, with Quan stealing scenes in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Gosling in The Mickey Mouse Club. After that, their careers went in very different directions, owing to the divergence between opportunities for white and Asian actors in the American film industry. And yet, Quan's comeback, his Oscar-winning Waymond, feels close to Gosling's Ken, and not just because of the absurdity the parts entail. After all, they're both simple comedic guys playing second fiddle to a woman they adore and is everything, everywhere, all at once.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jamie Lee Curtis for Jodie Foster
As longtime friends who started their careers around the same time, these two feel like a logical pair. Moreover, they've both played versions of Freaky Friday, further forging a connection across film history. On another note, they're iconic queens of horror, and Foster even won an Oscar for her scream queen.
Laura Dern for America Ferrera
The challenge of delivering a moratorium monologue on a woman's role is the kind of challenge that makes an actor's mouth water. It can also be a daunting prospect. Dern and Ferrera tackled their material with gusto, often fighting against writing that was sometimes more flatfooted than desired. Oh, and Noah Baumbach helped write both those screenplays.
Anne Hathaway for Emily Blunt
I loved the SAG Devil Wears Prada reunion, and I want more!
Octavia Spencer for Da'Vine Joy Randolph
Like Randolph, Spencer spent years in minor roles, climbing the ladder until she was a character actress veteran waiting for her chance to shine. And like Randolph, she swept awards season like a storm when she finally got that chance. At different points, they've both had to balance comedy and sorrow to tackle on-screen motherhood and a mother's unimaginable loss. Having The Help's Oscar winner present an Oscar to The Holdovers star would feel like a passing of the torch.
Catherine Zeta-Jones for Danielle Brooks
How do you reinvent an iconic performance, singing and dancing along the way? How do you honor those that came before while putting your stamp on the material? How do you live with the unavoidable comparison others will make to the actors who played your role on stage and in past film versions? I think Zeta-Jones could provide a beautiful reflection on the obstacles Brooks faced while also saying a sweet word about Chita Rivera, who we've so recently lost.
BEST ACTOR
Russell Crowe for Paul Giamatti
For Best Supporting Actor, I imagined a bunch of reunions for erstwhile costars. In this case, it's a Cinderella Man celebration, remembering the first time Giamatti was up for an Oscar, in 2005 while the awards community was still reeling from his Sideways snub. At long last, here's the Best Actor nomination he deserves.
Daniel Day-Lewis for Cillian Murphy
Irish pride! Who could present Murphy if not the only Irish actor ever to win the Best Actor Academy Award? Moreover, it'd be fun to have Day-Lewis discuss a thespian whose methodology and approach are radically different from his own. Alternatively, get Gary Oldman to reminisce about their scene in Oppenheimer.
Brendan Fraser for Bradley Cooper
It wasn't easy to fit Fraser into this scenario since he doesn't seem to have a connection to the year's Best Actor quintet. So, I went with Cooper, who also had to find his character's truth beneath layers of makeup and who, like Fraser, started his career in popcorn genres before graduating to the prestige drama big leagues.
Denzel Washington for Jeffrey Wright
Manchurian Candidate reunion! Moreover, it feels like justice to pair Wright with one of our lifetime's greatest Black thespians, if not the greatest. Though he's seldom found a chance to shine beyond supporting parts, Wright has a career of comparable variety and a rich filmography to boot. Also, they've both found success on the stage, and a bit of Broadway talk in the Oscar telecast could be fun.
Forest Whitaker for Colman Domingo
Lee Daniels' The Butler reunion! I toyed with the idea of Washington for Domingo, but no one wants to remember he lost the Oscar for Malcolm X. Tom Hanks was another one, but I doubt the Academy would want discourse on their history with queer roles. So, let's go with Whitaker, who was there when Domingo was shining from the sidelines, gaining momentum until he could become the full-fledged star he was always meant to be.
BEST ACTRESS
Ellen Burstyn for Lily Gladstone
The only thespian to ever win the Best Actress Oscar for a Scorsese picture, Burstyn feels like an obvious choice to present Gladstone. As someone whose best roles are marked by demonstrative emotion, it would be interesting to hear the woman who once was Alice talk about a performance as internalized as this take on Mollie Kyle.
Olivia Colman for Emma Stone
The Favourite reunion! Considering how much these two seem to love each other, this combination could result in some waterworks on the Oscar stage. Also, whenever there's an opportunity to have Olivia Colman speak during an awards ceremony, you hand her the mic and watch magic happen.
Julianne Moore for Annette Bening
The Kids are All Right reunion! Beyond this connection, there's also the way Moore, like Bening, had to wait so long for her Oscar, becoming one of American cinema's most exciting performers along the way. I'm not going to lie, I also want this combo because Nathaniel would be over the moon. Wouldn't you?
Emma Thompson for Carey Mulligan
An Education reunion! The final interaction between these two thespians in that 2009 Best Picture nominee represents some of Mulligan's best acting ever. One wonders what Thompson thought back then, watching a star being born in front of her eyes, sharing the same scenes. It could be a beautiful moment between the two.
Michelle Yeoh for Sandra Hüller
Finally, let's give it up for the Oscar's polyglot queens who came from abroad to stake their claim on Hollywood gold. Like many Evelyns, Yeoh got to explore her character's various truths in what almost amounted to different roles stitched together. In Hüller's case, she must keep the mystery of this woman, embodying two different possibilities of her truth, internalized and secret. To me, they make for a fascinating comparison.
What about you, dear reader? What would be your favorite winner-nominee pairings on Oscar night?