President Donald Trump won’t be watching the Oscars on Sunday according to White House press secretary Sean Spicer. However, with the news that his nemesis Meryl Streep will be presenting, how can he resist tuning in to ABC beginning at 8:30 pm ET/5:30 p.m. PT on February 26?
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Streep, a three-time Oscar winner, is also a nominee this year. With her Best Actress bid for “Florence Foster Jenkins,” she extended her record to 20 nominations. The actress had inveighed against the president during her acceptance speech at the Golden Globes. In response, Trump dubbed this three-time Oscar winner, who was being feted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement, as “overrated.”
We had wanted Streep to finally be given the chance to present Best Picture; after all she has starred in two winners – “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979) and “Out of Africa” (1985). We even suggested she be paired up with her former leading man Jack Nicholson, who has had this honor a record eight times. But the academy confirmed that Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway will be on hand Sunday, and Dunaway has said that they will be giving out this Academy Award.
UPDATED: Oscar Experts predict winners in all 24 categories
With Jimmy Kimmel hosting this 89th annual edition of the Academy Awards, we were hoping that his frenemy Matt Damon would be making an appearance. The academy announced that this Oscar winner (“Good Will Hunting) will indeed be on hand to make merry.
Another past Oscar champ and current nominee, Octavia Spencer, is also on tap to present as is her “Hidden Figures” co-star Taraji P. Henson. Also guaranteed o take to the Dolby Theater stage at least once in the evening are current contenders Ryan Gosling (“La La Land”) and Dev Patel (“Lion”).
In addition, Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Sofia Boutella, Salma Hayek and Vince Vaughn have been added to the roster.
Predict the Oscar winners now; change them till February 26
Be sure to make your Oscar predictions. Weigh in now with your picks so that Hollywood insiders can see how their films are faring in our Oscar odds. You can keep changing your predictions right up until just before winners are announced on February 26 at 5:00 pm PT/8:00 pm ET. And join in the fierce debate over the Oscars taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our forums.
