Queen will rock the Oscars this Sunday night. The classic rock band featured in the blockbuster film “Bohemian Rhapsody” is presumed to be the opening act for the 91st annual Academy Awards slated for this Sunday, February 24, on ABC. Original members Brian May and Roger Taylor along with front-man Adam Lambert will take to the stage. Rami Malek is nominated as Best Actor for playing legendary lead singer Freddie Mercury, who died in 1991. The news was confirmed Monday on the Twitter accounts of @adamlambert and @TheAcademy.
Over the weekend, two-time Oscar nominee Bette Midler confirmed on her own Twitter page (@bettemidler) that she will be performing Best Original Song nominee “Where the Lost Things Go.” The tune from “Mary Poppins Returns” was originally sung by Emily Blunt in the film.
In other news, eight people from outside the film world have been chosen to introduce the Best Picture nominee clip packages. The New York Times confirms that tennis legend Serena Williams will announce “A Star is Born.” Grammy champ Kacey Musgraves is known to be participating on the Oscars and might also be one of the eight film presenters. Nominees for Best Picture are “Black Panther,” “BlackKklansman,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “The Favourite,” “Green Book,” “Roma,” “A Star is Born” and “Vice.”
Ceremony presenters announced last week are Javier Bardem, Angela Bassett, Chadwick Boseman, Emilia Clarke, Laura Dern, Samuel L. Jackson, Stephan James, Keegan-Michael Key, KiKi Layne, James McAvoy, Melissa McCarthy, Jason Momoa and Sarah Paulson.
The previous week’s group of presenters were Awkwafina, Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Tina Fey, Whoopi Goldberg, Brie Larson, Jennifer Lopez, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Amandla Stenberg, Charlize Theron, Tessa Thompson and Constance Wu.
While not on an official press release, the Academy Twitter account confirmed a few days ago that 2018 champs Frances McDormand, Gary Oldman, Allison Janney and Sam Rockwell will be on stage for the 2019 ceremony. Producer Donna Gigliotti and co-producer/director Glenn Weiss have not revealed whether they will actually present any acting categories or not.
All performers singing Best Original Song nominees:
– Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga singing “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born”
– Jennifer Hudson singing “I’ll Fight” from “RBG”
– David Rawlings and Gillian Welch singing “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” from “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”
– Bette Midler (replacing Emily Blunt) singing “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from “Mary Poppins Returns”
– Gustavo Dudamel and the L.A. Philharmonic will perform during the annual “In Memoriam” segment.
There has been no confirmation or information about “All the Stars” from “Black Panther,” but the original film version was performed by Kendrick Lamar and SZA.
Discuss all of these ceremony details and more in our notorious Oscar forums thread. As presenters are announced for the program, they will be added to the first post in that thread.
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