While there were a few gay Oscar nominees, such as Lincoln screenwriter Tony Kushner, there wasn’t as much homo interest amongst the Academy Award hopefuls as there have been in the last few years, and sadly none of those who did get the nod, actually won.
However, to make up for that, it may well have been one of the gayest Oscars ever. Producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan (who are gay themselves) themed the evening as a celebration of movie musicals, which involved the cast of Les Miserables singing a medley of songs from the show, Jennifer Hudson returning to Dreamgirls and Catherine Zeta-Jones getting her Chicago on.
While some may have thought that was gay enough, they also threw in a heap of warbling divas such as Shirley Bassey, Barbra Streisand and Adele, got the likes of Charlize Theron and Channing Tatum ballroom dancing, while host Seth McFarlane had a bit of a song and dance with Daniel Radcliffe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
The show signalled to viewers that this year’s Oscar were going to be a bit fabulous early on, with the LA Gay Men’s Chorus showing up during the opening musical segment, helping MacFarlane with his ‘We Saw Your Boobs’ number. And if a William Shatner is to be believed (who popped up as Captain Kirk, travelling back in time to tell Seth he’ll be the worst host ever), MacFarlane will be joining the Chorus himself in 2015.
It was certainly a rather camp evening, which isn’t a bad thing, as it helped to keep it entertaining – something that’s been an increasing challenge in recent years, where various producers have struggled with putting on a big show while also having to get through all the awards.
MacFarlane also made a good host. While he has a couple of false starts, he quickly relaxed into the role and kept things moving – some criticised some of his edgier jokes, but he was actually a lot tamer than many who know his work might have imagined. He was well aware of how camp things had gotten though, even joking at one point that they were reuniting the cast of Chicago on stage, as the show hadn’t been gay enough already.