This year marked Conan O’Brien‘s debut as the Oscars host, and considering the positive feedback on his performance, it seems likely he will return to the role in future years. However, one can only speculate about how the show might have differed if Conan’s initial ideas for the opening had been implemented.
On his podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend,” co-hosted by writer Mike Sweeney, Conan O’Brien talked about his tenure as the 2025 Academy Awards host. He also revealed many details about what didn’t happen before Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were confirmed to open the show. Initially, there was a plan for a lengthy video segment featuring Conan in multiple nominated films, reminiscent of Billy Crystal’s previous Oscar hosting gimmicks.
As a passionate cinephile, it appears the initial concept for our film was unfortunately shelved due to adjustments necessitated by the Southern California wildfires. However, other innovative ideas were reportedly scrapped by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who expressed reservations about certain proposals. In other words, it seems some of our visionary ideas didn’t align with their preferences.
Initially, I imagined it would be quite convenient if The Oscar was simply on the couch. Perhaps we could place it there while I’m vacuuming and suggest, “Could you maybe lift your feet or help out by loading the dishwasher?” However, they firmly rejected the idea, saying, “Absolutely not, that won’t work.
According to Conan, the concept proposed was that an enormous Oscar statue would appear stationary, yet be interacted with as if it were a living person. However, this notion didn’t sit well with the Academy, not because of any specific jokes by O’Brien, but rather due to the rule that the Oscar can’t simply be placed in a lying-down position, which is apparently against their guidelines. O’Brien persisted…
A member of the academy made an astonishing statement: “Oscar will never lie flat.” And that left me utterly amazed. It’s as if I stumbled upon the femur of Saint Peter. This is a sacred artifact, a revered symbol.
It hadn’t crossed my mind before, but it seems plausible that I’ve never come across an image of an Oscar statue on its side, especially not in any formal Academy photographs. It’s quite common for organizations to enforce specific guidelines when portraying their trademarked symbols, though I wasn’t aware this was the case with the Oscar statuette.
One interesting rule about the Oscars is that Oscar the Statue can’t wear clothes. As Mike Sweeney mentioned, a further part of the same sketch would have had Oscar donning an apron and serving leftovers to Conan, but this idea was scrapped because Oscar is always supposed to be nude. According to Sweeney, he was informed…
‘No clothing on Oscar.’ Oscar is always naked.
As a movie enthusiast looking back on my experience at the Oscars and working with ABC, I can confidently say that everyone I collaborated with was simply outstanding. Despite certain things that didn’t quite pan out as planned, there are no lingering feelings of resentment or disappointment. The whole journey, though undeniably tiring, was an absolute blast. If the opportunity arises next year, I wouldn’t hesitate to dive back into the whirlwind again.
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2025-03-15 02:07