This Sunday, Hollywood’s biggest and brightest will get together for what is the most important day in the entertainment universe: The Oscars. Each Academy Award ceremony is different in its own way, but when it comes to production, the 2016 show could be one for the ages.

While the last three Academy Awards have been produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron and they were successful, it is time for a change of pace after Neil Patrick Harris’s performance last year got subpar reviews. This year the academy will shake things up with David Hill and Reginald Hudlin as producers. They’ve already announced some plans that will make this year unique.

One particularly relevant promise of Hill and Hudlin is to make this the most diverse Oscar presentation to date. Plenty has been written about the lack of diversity in the nominations, but this was out of Hill and Hudson’s control. Even tapping Hudlin as producer is a step in the right direction, as he is the former President of Entertainment at Black Entertainment Television. His new perspective will help bring a sense of freshness to an awards ceremony that many feel is tired.

Hill and Hudlin are bringing diversity to the Oscars in two ways: the host and the presenters. Chris Rock, a well-known black comedian, is hosting, and he could not have been a better choice. His previous hosting gig at the Oscars was wonderful — he’ll likely skewer the lack of diversity in Hollywood and include any other funny observations about the film industry.

In terms of presenters, Hill and Hudlin have recruited an all-star list of Hollywood figures who are also minorities, including Common, Benicio Del Toro, Morgan Freeman, Whoopi Goldberg, Kevin Hart, Michael B. Jordan and Dev Patel. Though the presenters are not necessarily the highlight of the night, it is always fun to see our favorite stars together in one room.

In terms of the actual show, Hill and Hudlin are introducing a new initiative where the winners’ “thank you” will appear on a scroll on the screen, letting the Oscar winners speak about whatever they want and not worry about thanking people.

This could go one of two ways. Maybe the winners will give more interesting speeches and leave the “thank you” to the scroll. The more likely situation, though, is that the winners will still want to give thank you’s, and while they won’t have to worry about forgetting anyone, it will ultimately be repetitive as the scroll and speech will have the same content.

Finally, be on the look out for the actual winners. After years and years of failure, this will probably be the year Leonardo DiCaprio finally brings home an Oscar for “The Revenant.” We should also expect “The Revenant” director Alejandro González Iñárritu to win Best Director, making him the first back-to-back Best Director winner in 65 years, as he won last year for “Birdman.”

Brie Larson will certainly take home the trophy for “Room,” and Sylvester Stallone will win for his iconic character of Rocky in “Creed.” The supporting actress race is a little more open, but I’d put my money on Alicia Vikander for “The Danish Girl,” though Kate Winslet could slip in for “Steve Jobs.” Finally, we should expect to see “Spotlight” and “The Big Short” win original and adapted screenplay, respectively. The Best Picture race is ultimately down to “The Revenant,” “The Big Short” and “Spotlight,” and for the first time in ages, it is truly too close to call. It could go any way, and instead of me saying who will take home the trophy, we will simply have to watch and find out.

Erik Benjamin is a sophomore television, radio and film major. He’s still mad “The King’s Speech” beat “The Social Network” for Best Picture. His column appears weekly in Pulp. You can email him at ebenjami@syr.edu or follow him @embenjamin14 on Twitter.

Published on February 21, 2016 at 7:47 pm