Jimmy Kimmel will host the 95th Academy Awards on March 12.
For the first time in Oscar history, a so-called "crisis team" will be in place for the 95th Academy Awards, a move enacted in wake of the slap heard and seen 'round the world.
Glenn Weiss, a veteran live events director and multi EMMY-winning producer who will executive produce the March 12 ceremony, spoke to ET about the reasoning for the plan's implementation. While Weiss didn't directly reference Will Smith slapping Oscars presenter Chris Rock during last year's ceremony -- a controversy that continues to reverberate -- the 61-year-old producer said the crisis team is another safety layer.
"We go in with a really good plan for the known," Weiss tells ET, "but you have to be ready for what may transpire with what you didn't plan."
If anyone's prepared for the unknown it's Weiss, as well as host Jimmy Kimmel, who has not only hosted multiple Oscar shows but is also comfortable in front of a live audience. That's a special skill Academy CEO Bill Kramer touched upon when speaking to Time about why Kimmel was selected to host this year's show.
"It’s so important to have a host who knows how to handle live television and a live audience. That’s a very specific skill, and there aren’t a lot of people who can do that well," Kramer tells the magazine.
As for Weiss, he'll be directing the Oscars for the eighth consecutive year and producing the show for the second time. Ricky Kirshner will also executive producer alongside Weiss, who just days ago scored a Directors Guild of America Award for directing the 75th Tony Awards. Weiss has also directed or produced the Kennedy Center Honors, Primetime EMMY Awards, Democratic National Convention, American Music Awards and the Academy of Country Music Awards, among other marquee events. In other words, he's as adept as they come with regard to live television.
"The idea of live television is the added little piece that makes it really invigorating for us," Weiss tells ET.
As for what the "crisis team" has prepared for, Kramer, the Academy CEO, told Time that the crisis team has "many plans in place."
"We’ve run many scenarios. So it is our hope that we will be prepared for anything that we may not anticipate right now but that we’re planning for just in case it does happen," Kramer says.
Earlier this month, Kimmel's first promo for his upcoming hosting gig hit the airwaves, and he joked about being an "unslappable" host because he cries a lot.
No word yet if Rock will surface when the ceremony kicks off March 12 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, but one thing's for sure: Smith will not attend the ceremony, as he was banned from attending any Academy events for a decade following the controversy.
The 95th Academy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will be handed out live at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, on March 12 starting at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC. In the meantime, stay tuned to ETonline.com for complete Oscars coverage.
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