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It was a huge night for Anora and independent filmmaking at the 97th Academy Awards. Sean Baker matched Walt Disney’s record and Mikey Madison surprised many by beating Demi Moore to win Best Actress.
Conan O’Brien was a popular host, funny but sympathetic, running a show that handed out a lot of awards to a lot of movies from the aforementioned sex worker comedy drama to The Brutalist, I’m Still Here, Dune: Part Two, Wicked, No Other Land, The Substance, Conclave, A Real Pain, Flow and even a couple for the embattled Emilia Pérez.
There was also a lot of singing and dancing, some touching tributes and plenty of star reunions during the show, which ran for three hours and 47 minutes on ABC, and for most of that on Hulu.
It was a night described by Rob Mills, EVP, Unscripted & Alternative Entertainment at Walt Disney Television, the man in charge of the telecast, as a “great experience”.
In an interview with Deadline, Mills addresses the show, its length, Conan’s performance, those musical performances, who is The Wiz fan, James Bond, Adrien Brody’s speech, Sean Baker’s theatrical call, the In Memoriam, Hulu going down, Luke Skywalker saving Han Solo and thinking about next year’s Oscars.
DEADLINE: Congratulations on the show last night. How was it for you?
ROB MILLS: It was really good. I work so close to Jimmy Kimmel so I love when we do the show with him. But, my gosh, this was incredible, working with Conan and his team. I started to describe it as TV executive fantasy camp. It was such a privilege. So it was great. Raj and Katy, the producers are obviously first rate. I’ve worked with them for over a decade now, and then obviously with Bill and Janet at The Academy, it’s sort of dream. It’s a thing that’s sort of year-round, but certainly in those weeks leading up, as you see the whole thing come to life, it’s always amazing. As relieved and happy as you are, when it’s in the books, it’s also you get a little wistful, because it is such a great, great experience.
DEADLINE: Conan has been receiving plaudits for his role being compared to Bob Hope and Jonny Carson. You must be thinking we should have done this before and you should bring him back. Have you got an option on his for next year?
MILLS: Yeah, probably all of the above. I certainly hope this is something we would have been doing again. I know firsthand from Jimmy, it is very difficult, because the minute you commit that’s sort of all you’re thinking about, and it becomes a full time job. When you think of the great Oscar hosts like Hope, Carson, Billy Crystal and Jimmy Kimmel, it was also sort of like a three hour tour down 30 years of television history with Conan. You had every sort of hallmark that Conan did from the opening film to the ridiculous character with the Sand Worm, to the song that he did, the jokes that are funny, and then a half hour later they’re really funny. Everything was so great and that’s no easy task. So I certainly next year you,
DEADLINE: You said three hours, but let’s be honest, it was three hours and 47 minutes, did you have the over or under for that?
MILLS: I don’t know if that’s a thing you can place money on in Vegas. I would have taken the over. Obviously the goal was three hours and 30 minutes, Raj and Katy really take that seriously so it was difficult. It’s also hard when you’re looking at things that we can’t cut.
DEADLINE: Was there anything planned that you cut for time?
MILLS: No, I don’t think there was anything major. I think there was stuff probably early in rehearsal that you sort of see, because you sort of throw the kitchen sink in, but for the most part, it was the show as planned.
DEADLINE: Are you able to have a favorite winner or speech? Any categories surprise you?
MILLS: To your point, by the way, about the show, the one thing you sort of can’t do anything about is the speeches. But I will say there’s certain times everyone’s sitting back at the producers’ table, and you look and say, okay, they hit the allotted time, they’re over. Should we play them off? Should we not play them off? The one thing where I did say, I don’t care if he wants to speak for an hour, he can, he can go as long as he wants, I don’t care how long the show goes was Sean Baker’s speech for Best Director, imploring people to go to movie theaters. I saw Quentin Tarantino getting ready to go on backstage. I didn’t get a moment but I wanted to thank him for the work he does with his theater, The New Beverly, which shows old shows and I go to the Vista all the time. The theatrical experience is so important, something for me as a movie lover, I take really personally. My kids have grown up as cinephiles, so for me, I think Sean Baker spoke for a lot of people last night. That was hands down, my favorite.
DEADLINE: Adrien Brody had the third longest speech in Oscars history. Is there anything you can do when someone like that speaks for so long?
MILLS: There’s not much you can do. I mean, maybe we would have said, ‘No, you can keep the gum in your mouth’. Sometimes, when the speeches are so long, they’re less impactful. Obviously we’re trying to keep the show on time, but when you have a speech that is sort of shorter and to the point, those are the things you remember, you remember those one or two lines, those are the ones that are in the great Oscar montages, but there’s not much you can do. You sort of go along with it. When you get a speech like that, it is always nice when it’s sort of at the end of the night and not at the beginning.
DEADLINE: Last night was largely non-political, bar Conan’s Russia joke. Was that intentional? Whose decision was that?
MILLS: I don’t think it’s something where it’s intentional and you say this is verboten, but I do think the Oscars is supposed to be for everyone. There’s certainly a time and a place for political humor, I think now, and the Oscars, has also been that sometimes, historically, I think right now, when things are really tender, and we are kind of rebuilding, I think sometimes when you say stuff that’s too pointed, people feel targeted and this show is not for me and you never want somebody to watch the Oscars and think that. This is a show for everyone.
DEADLINE: Let’s talk about the musical performances. Cynthia and Ariana obviously kicked off the show. Who’s The Wiz fan in the building? Who decided to use a song Quincy Jones didn’t write for that tribute?
MILLS: Certainly I’m one of them. I was not in charge of these decisions, but I love me some Wiz. Starting from the open, the dream was, once everybody saw Wicked, was imagining we could get Cynthia and Ariana to sing and then that was done in the wake of the fires. You’re looking for songs that tie all of this in. If you’re ending on Defying Gravity and then you have songs that really sort of hit that theme of home and resilience and hope, there’s not another song from Wizard of Oz that ties into that. I actually think Home just happened to be from The Wiz. It was great to see that progression from Wizard of Oz to Wiz to Wicked. It really was more of a coincidence. The Quincy tribute… he was honored this year at the Governor’s Award. This was a monumental loss, to say the least. How do you inject some energy in the show, especially that late, whether it’s when we had This Is Me from Greatest Showman a few years ago, when you have those moments… Ease On Down The Road, it was great that Quincy produced that soundtrack. It was more coincidental, although it does feel like somebody really, really loves The Wiz. The movie was not incredibly successful, so I think somebody wanted to make sure it got its due.
DEADLINE: Why did you make the decision not to have the performances from Best Song?
MILLS: As you look for ways to innovate the show and make the show shorter, we have a running time and you want to be able to get everything in. We’ve made a conscious decision that those awards are in the show, so it’s just where you can cut time and that was sort of an easier one. Those numbers are very hard when you have to do five of them.
DEADLINE: It wasn’t about the songs themselves?
MILLS: No, this [decision] was made before the nominations even came out.
DEADLINE: Will you look at that for next year?
MILLS: I think you look at the show every year, we look at everything, and it’s like what worked and what didn’t. What should we change? What should we keep? The Oscars definitely cannot live inside a vacuum. It’s got to innovate. In two years, it will be 100 years, you’ve got to keep it moving forward.
DEADLINE: What about that James Bond medley? I’m assuming the timing with the Amazon deal was a coincidence?
MILLS: That was interesting timing to say the least. It was a new way to fete the winners of the Governor’s Awards. Sometimes they get up and speak. This was a way to put some great, entertaining moments in the show, roughly 90 minutes in. Those are some of the most iconic songs of all time. I think we probably could have done one each hour, and we still wouldn’t have picked everything.
DEADLINE: I guess people were just surprised given that there was no Bond film out this year.
MILLS: You don’t want to get too inside baseball and say ‘We know there’s been no Bond movie, but we have the Governor’s Awards and Barbara Broccoli, who’s the daughter of Cubby Broccoli, who was the original producer of Bond and Michael Wilson, his stepson, and they produced these movies for years. I understand it’s a little bit of a head scratcher, but it did tie into the Governor’s Award.
DEADLINE: Elsewhere, it was nice to see the costume designers and cinematographers get the star treatment. Will you rotate that each time?
MILLS: This is something that was done when Bill Condon and Larry Mark produced it [in 2009]. It was always one of those sort of all-time great things when you had the actors feeding the other actors. So, we brought it back last year and the thing that’s really difficult is when you have to have somebody who’s won in their respective category, the pool is not incredibly big, and then you have to get them to come and everything. I think that Raj and Katy had a really brilliant idea of keeping what’s great about that, but kind of rotating into different categories and shining a light on some of those things. It was great to see them speak. You really got a sense from those five how, how closely they work with their costume designers and the cinematographers. Those are really heartfelt speeches, and that was great to see.
DEADLINE: What about the decision to have the previous winners speak about the supporting categories, was that anything to do with Karla Sofía Gascón?
MILLS: No, nothing to do with that. If you noticed lead actor and actress had clip, supporting didn’t. I think we’ll look and maybe mix that up again next year too.
DEADLINE: Harrison Ford was meant to present before he got ill. Was it going to be a Star Wars reunion with Mark Hamill?
MILLS: Mark just pitch hit for Harrison, but there is something really cool about Luke Skywalker coming in to rescue Han Solo.
DEADLINE: Let’s talk In Memoriam. People always focus on the names that are not included like Michelle Trachtenberg, Shannon Doherty and Mitzi Gaynor. How difficult is that?
MILLS: I hope on the whole, people walk away from the In Memoriam moved and not upset, but there’s definitely been people missing, and that seems to be a hallmark every year. They are all on the website, everybody is there. It’s very difficult. The one thing I can say is it is taken incredibly seriously, and they think about every name that’s in there.
DEADLINE: How bummed were you to hear about the problems on Hulu?
MILLS: Obviously it’s unfortunate. I think the great thing is that we’ve now moved into a place where we are meeting viewers where they are. The incredible thing about the Walt Disney Company is we have a broadcast network and a streaming platform, and those two tie really beautifully in together. You want it to work perfectly. It should work perfectly. Unfortunately, errors happen not just to us, but to others. It’s not the first time, and I would love it if it’s the last but it probably isn’t, but next year, I’m sure it’ll be seamless.
DEADLINE: When do you start thinking about the 2026 Oscars?
MILLS: This one was really well received. I think obviously, if we could do something that replicates that with producers and hosts, I think that would be great. When you can do that, it’s usually pretty easy. Hopefully it’s as easy as that, but we’ll definitely start thinking about it now. I think we’re also looking forward to even the 100th in two years. We’re always thinking Oscars. It’s such an important night. It’s so meaningful, really, to everybody. What is great is that you see how it resonates with people, not just all over the country, but all over the world. It is definitely a 365 day a year job that us, The Academy, everyone’s thinking about,
