Today, the road to the Oscar began with the announcement of the nominees for this year’s Oscar. Many of the nominations were expected, although there were a few Oscar nomination surprises and a few even more unexpected Oscar snubs. And one of the things that many are talking about is the representation of the nominees themselves, because people seem to like the work done by Allison Williams and Riz Ahmed.
Ahmed and Williams were tasked with identifying nominees for all Oscar categories. And judging by the responses on Twitter, it seems that these two need to be returned to do this every year, if not to hold awards themselves. Williams was particularly praised for what seemed to many to be a concerted effort to correctly pronounce all the names.
Here's a thing I appreciate about Allison Williams: I know she rehearsed how to pronounce everyone's names.
— Esther Zuckerman (@ezwrites) January 24, 2023
Although today was not the Oscar ceremony itself, it is still a very important day. Although “being nominated is a great honor” is something of a cliche, it’s also very true. Being nominated for an Oscar is a big deal for people who succeed, especially in categories that don’t always cause a lot of fanfare. Hearing the correct pronunciation of your name, especially for those people who probably tend to hear their name often mispronounced, is probably a really big deal.
Perhaps part of the reason Allison Williams and Riz Ahmed have worked so well together is because they’ve done it before. One of the fans watching this morning’s announcement realized this, as Riz Ahmed appeared in a couple of episodes of the HBO series “Girls,” where Williams was a regular. So it was a special moment for the fans.
Wait literally just realized pairing Riz Ahmed and Allison Williams together to announce the Oscar nominations was a Girls reunion so u know what that means… Lena Dunham Oscar nomination 2024 ✈️✈️✈️
— Chris Murphy (@christress) January 24, 2023
Whether it’s the Academy Awards itself or the announcement of the nominees, usually people tend to focus on what went wrong or what didn’t work with the host. These can be jokes that don’t reach the viewer, scripted jokes that sound the same as scripted jokes, or other decisions that make presentations look out of place; such things rarely go off without a hitch. But this time, it looks like it was. Praise everyone around you.
seriously between Allison and Riz that might have been the least-embarrassing Oscar nominations announcement ever. Even the banter landed! https://t.co/CaNLzhnRzH
— Sam Adams (@SamuelAAdams) January 24, 2023
Of course, the most memorable moments are those that were clearly and obviously not written according to the script. The funniest moment of today’s announcements occurred when Riz Ahmed was reading the nominees for the best animated short film, and he had to take an audible breath, which caused laughter from those present, after reading the name of one particular nominee.
Riz Ahmed breaking while announcing 'My Year of Dicks' Oscar nomination will be more entertaining than the entirety of the Oscars ceremony
— lonE skuM (@DrClawMD) January 24, 2023
It’s not really clear what exactly Riz Ahmed found so funny. He may have needed a bit after he read “My Year of Members,” which, yes, is very funny. However, he may have actually been reacting to the name of the final nominee with the perhaps equally fantastic title “An ostrich told me the world is fake and I think I believe it.” We will find out if any of these short films with a fantastic title will receive an Oscar when the Academy Awards ceremony is broadcast on March 12.
