The finishing touches are underway ahead of Sunday night’s Oscars which is the culmination of one of the most explosive years in Hollywood history.
On Saturday, star presenters including Sandra Bullock, Matthew McConaughey and Emma Stone rehearsed their jokes and speeches on stage at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.
Also there was Ashley Judd who will present an award with fellow Weinstein accusers Annabella Sciorra and Hayek.
Judd triggered Weinstein’s downfall in October by being one of the first few famous women to publicly accuse him of gross sexual misconduct and harassment. She has been relatively quiet ever since.
Presenters Ashley Judd and Annabella Sciorra rehearse ahead of their appearance at Sunday’s Oscars. They will present an award with Salma Hayek. All three women have accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct
Emma Stone, last year’s Best Actress winner, is pictured rehearsing her Time’s Up joke at the Dolby Theater on Saturday March 2
Viola Davis is pictured rehearsing her presentation speech on Saturday. Her daughter Genesis watched from the audience
Jane Fonda and Helen Mirren share a laugh as they rehearse at the Dolby Theater on Saturday March 2
Sciorra and Hayek’s stories followed. On Saturday, Hayek was not there for rehearsal but the other two ladies were.
They all rehearsed with enormous envelopes which are so large they were likened to clutch handbags by stage manager Gary Natoli.
The font inside is intentionally enormous to avoid any confusion over who has won what.
The extra effort was prompted by last year’s shocking Best Picture debacle when the wrong film (La La Land) was declared the winner.
The victory belonged to Moonlight but presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty were given the wrong envelope by bungling PWC accountant Brian Cullinan who mixed them up when he was distracted backstage tweeting about Emma Stone.
At the rehearsal on Saturday, Bullock was fighting the flu and under antibiotics.
She made a joke as a microphone popped up from the stage as she rehearsed on Saturday, joking that it might catch her gown and reveal her legs.
‘Now everyone’s just going to be hoping for that moment, chiffon billowing up,’ she laughed. Viola Davis was also there and brought with her her young daughter, Genesis.
Fighting a cold: Sandra Bullock sniffled her way through an Oscars ceremony rehearsal at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre on Saturday ahead of Sundays awards
The 53-year-old joked about the possibility of a wardrobe malfunction if she stood too close to the spot where the pop-up mid rose out of the stage
Bringing his own audience: Matthew McConaughey was joined at the rehearsal by his wife Camila Alves, 36
And the winner is…: McConaughey, 48, nabbed Best Actor in 2014 for Dallas Buyers Club. It is not known what category he is presenting on Sunday
Mahershala Ali, one of the stars of Moonlight, was pictured rehearsing.
Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Grammy award-winner Rita Moreno clearly enjoyed her return to the Oscar stage. The audience of rehearsal actors and show workers gave the 86-year-old entertainer a standing ovation.
Moreno’s daughter, Fernanda Gordon, who tagged along to see her mother rehearse, revealed that Moreno will wear the same dress to Sunday’s show that she did when she won her Oscar in 1962 for West Side Story.
Moreno was understandably concerned about the winner’s envelope after last year’s best picture mix-up. A stage manager showed her a redesigned envelope for this year, with the category boldly printed on both sides with an easy, magnetic closure.
‘Oh, this is nice!’ said Moreno, chic in a poncho with a giant gold medallion around her neck.
She had fun with the prop envelope on stage, saying Oh, no!’ and looking dejected as she opened it.
‘I had to do that at least once,’ she said, turning to director Weiss. ‘Should I say it like that? ‘Oh no!’ and then throw it on the floor?”
Eva Marie Saint, 93, is pictured on Saturday rehearsing her lines on Saturday
Actors Mahershala Ali (left) and Ansel Elgort (right) are seen backstage after wrapping up rehearsals on Saturday
‘No,’ Weiss said.
Actress Eva Marie Saint, who won an Oscar in 1955 for On the Waterfront, was also playful during rehearsals. When the stage manager showed her the new envelope design, she said, ‘I’m going to keep it.’
Film academy president John Bailey, who snapped an iPhone photo of the 93-year-old actress, told her, ‘If you screw up the envelope, you get to come back next year!’
Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, who had the wrong envelope for the best-picture winner last year, are reportedly returning to present on Sunday.
Saint was given a detailed explanation of Sunday’s proceedings before she ran through her lines. When she mispronounced a word, she quipped, ‘I haven’t been to school lately.’
When it was time to open the prop envelope, Saint said, ‘The Oscar belongs to: You’ll never know!’ And she tucked the card beneath her arm.
The stage manager explained that she should read the winner in order to practice handing over the Oscar statuette and the stage walk-off.
‘It’s all going to be fine,’ she told him. ‘I’ll be fine; I don’t know about you.’
Eiza Gonzelaz poses next to her headshot which was put in her seat ahead of the event on Sunday
A backstage sign at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles on Saturday warning stars not to eat or drink near the set
She also insisted that if the winner in the category she’s presenting isn’t there to claim the Oscar, she will take the statuette home.
Other stars rehearsing Saturday included Matthew McConaughey, whose wife sat in the audience’s front row and cheered when he took the stage, along with Emma Stone, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Emily Blunt, Viola Davis, Ansel Elgort (who wore a sweatshirt with a plush face on it, including dimensional teeth and tongue), Ashley Judd, Annabella Sciorra and Mahershala Ali.
Oscar winners Jane Fonda and Helen Mirren laughed through their rehearsal together. Fonda called from the stage to production designer Derek McLane, who won a Tony Award for his production design on “33 Variations,” in which Fonda starred.
‘What a fantastic set,’ she said. ‘It looks like the Orgasmatron in Barbarella,’ only way prettier.’
The actresses discussed camera and teleprompter positioning with the director and discussed their heel heights with each other before practicing their lines, which elicited laughs from the audience of show workers.
The red carpet is unrolled on Sunday ahead of the stars’ arrival. It will stay dry this year and the temperature will be a balmy 60F
Crews unroll the large red carpet which was immaculate on Sunday ahead of the stars’ arrival
‘Thank you guys for laughing,’ Mirren said. ‘It’s much appreciated.’
‘Thank you,’ Fonda said. ‘See you tomorrow. Bye!’
Other presenters include Dave Chappelle, Eugenio Derbez, Ansel Elgort, , Jodie Foster, Eiza González, Nicole Kidman, , Rita Moreno, Lupita Nyong’o and Christopher Walken.
Outside, the vast red carpet was being unrolled and pieced together like a jigsaw.
The weather is promising – it will be dry and around 61F when the stars arrive to walk the red carpet.
Jimmy Kimmel will host the ceremony as he did last year.
The 90th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be broadcast live on the ABC Television Network at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.