The Academy Awards certainly won’t be short on star power this year.
Brad Pitt, Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, Harrison Ford and Renee Zellweger will be among the big-name presenters at this month’s Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed Monday.
The event celebrating achievements in film is set to take place April 25 and will be spaced out at two different venues — the Dolby Theatre and Union Station — amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The presenters were unveiled Monday in a video from The Academy that asked, “In a world filled with award shows, what if an award show was actually a movie? Which stars would you cast?”
Reese Witherspoon, Joaquin Phoenix, Zendaya, Rita Moreno, Angela Bassett, Bong Joon-ho, Marlee Matlin and Regina King were also announced as presenters Monday.
“In keeping with our awards-show-as-a-movie approach, we’ve assembled a truly stellar cast of stars,” reads a statement from the show’s producers. “There’s so much wattage here, sunglasses may be required.”
This year’s lineup of producers features numerous recent Oscar winners, as Pitt, Zellweger, Dern and Phoenix each took home acting trophies at last year’s ceremony.
Meanwhile, Bong’s dark comedy “Parasite,” a Korean film about a poor family manipulating a wealthy one, won four Oscars last year, including best picture. Bong was named best director at that 2020 show.
Several of the newly announced presenters expressed their excitement Monday.
“The countdown to the #Oscars is on,” Matlin tweeted. “I am so honored and humbled to part of the ensemble of presenters at this year’s @TheAcademy Awards.”
Moreno wrote, “Back at @TheAcademy this year...As a presenter! #Oscars.”
The 2021 Oscars were originally scheduled to take place in late February, but were postponed until the spring due to the pandemic.
Top contenders at the ceremony include “Mank,” a black-and-white drama about “Citizen Kane” screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz, which leads all films with 10 nominations. “Nomadland,” about a widow traveling the Western United States after losing her job, has six nominations and has dominated other award shows this year.
The Oscars have not officially announced if there will be a host this year. The past two Academy Awards ceremonies have not had one.
