Botox for Oscar

Oscar fanatics, say hello to your new hosts.

Anne Hathaway, lead of the newly released film “Love & Other Drugs,” and James Franco, who can be seen in the new movie “127 Hours,” were recently chosen to host the 2011 Oscars.

This is a sharp departure from the Academy’s usual penchant for salt-and-pepper-haired hosts, most likely because choosing hot, wrinkle-free actors is the most effective way to reach the goal of garnering a younger audience.

Although the Oscars have been around for more than 80 years, it has never seemed very interested in including the younger generations in either nominations or performances before, so why now?

Because for the first time, actors younger than 30 will likely sweep this year’s Oscars, and this year’s ratings.

Jennifer Lawrence, star of “Winter’s Bone,” is likely to earn a nod for “Best Actress,” and possibly win, although Natalie Portman is strongly favored for “Black Swan.” Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling’s edgy romance “Blue Valentine” will most likely win at least one category — the list goes on.

It only makes sense to continue with the theme of the night by appointing young hosts to represent most of the year’s talent.

Independent films have become increasingly popular, with some of them inching their way into mainstream Hollywood. This year’s independent films featured more young, up-and-coming actors than usual.

Young actors aren’t necessarily more talented than older actors, but they do have lower expectations when it comes to paychecks, which allows them to pick quality projects instead of big-budget blockbusters.

Actresses like Reese Witherspoon, Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Aniston, who have been around for years, topped Forbes’ list of “Hollywood’s Highest-Paid Actresses” for 2010, so it’s not likely that they would be willing to trim their multi-million dollar salaries after getting accustomed to such posh lifestyles. So they continue to make sub-par romantic comedies in exchange for hefty fees.

However, there are always exceptions to that trend, two of them being Annette Bening and Julianne Moore, who starred in the independent family dramedy “The Kids Are All Right.”

While it’s satisfying to see young actors finally acknowledged for their work, it seems as though, for the past couple of years, the Academy has been embracing the youth of Hollywood a little too tightly.

I was slightly peeved to see Disney’s proteges (Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Miley Cyrus, etc.) presenting and performing at the 2010 Oscars. I don’t feel that any of them have paid their dues yet, and I think the Academy would agree. But unfortunately, the hunger for ratings trumps merit.

The Academy’s new approach proved effective, as the Oscar audience increased by 14 percent from 2009 to 2010.

Overall, it’s gratifying to finally see the Oscars get a little nip/tuck, but only because there is plenty of talent to back it up. Inviting Miley Cyrus and the rest of the Disney teenyboppers is more like a face-lift, and we know that those almost never end well.


E-mail: pkansal@indiana.edu