Oscar, you look so young

The Oscars are tomorrow! Well, it is for us, anyway, thanks to time zones. The Grand Poobah of film industry awards shows, the show other shows move their schedules around for, the one that puts a cap on the season when Hollywood loves to pat itself on the back, and I, for one, have not been this interested in it in years.

And this year will probably be the youngest Oscar ceremony we’ve ever seen. Youngest as in a good number of nominees are noticeably younger than we’re used to. Usually considered a staid, solemn (some might even say boring) show where nominees and winners tend to be well on in years and experience, this year’s crop of potential Oscar winners might indicate a signal year that means the collective age of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences may be getting lower. Perhaps it’s more young people entering the industry. Perhaps it’s more people in the older age brackets retiring.

14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld holds her own against experienced veterans Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon in True Grit and is rewarded with a shot at Oscar glory.

For starters, hosting duties are shared by James Franco (32) and Anne Hathaway (28). They’re the youngest to host the show in recent, quickly-Googleable memory; the next closest are Hugh Jackman and Chris Rock, who were 40 when they held the reins in 2009 and 2005, respectively. Not only that, Franco is also nominated for Best Actor for his intense performance in 127 Hours. Another strong contender is The Social Network’s Jesse Eisenberg (27). Eisenberg’s been doing good work in mostly smaller films like The Squid and The Whale and Zombieland in recent years, but Social saw him step up to a much higher profile project. It’s in the nominees for the Actress categories, though, that you’ll see the really fresh faces. Hailee Steinfeld, a plucky 14-year-old who made her feature film debut in True Grit, in scenes with actors who have decades of experience on her, not only rises to the occasion but even outshines them once or twice. In the Best Actress race, the majority are young women. Both Natalie Portman (a frontrunner after her Golden Globe win for Black Swan) and Michelle Williams from Blue Valentine are only 30, and have been previously nominated for Best Supporting Actress, while Jennifer Lawrence from Winter’s Bone (and the forthcoming X-Men movie) is only 20!

Not just a nominee for Best Actor, James Franco is also the youngest man to host the Oscars in (at least) decades.

Even among the filmmakers nominated, I can feel a sense of youth and vibrancy coming across. Though maybe that’s just a colored perception of mine due to the fact that all but one of the nominated directors were upstarts of the film industry when I was falling in love with movies in the ‘90s. Darren Aronofsky (Pi and Requiem For A Dream) is in with Black Swan, Seven and Fight Club’s David Fincher is a strong bet with The Social Network, David O. Russell (Spanking The Monkey and Three Kings) is represented by his knockout The Fighter, and the Coen brothers who brought us Fargo and Miller’s Crossing have True Grit. Danny Boyle, whose 127 Hours is up for Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay, came from Trainspotting and Shallow Grave. Even Christopher Nolan (only 40!), who many feel was robbed of a nomination for directing Inception (but is nominated for Best Picture and Original Screenplay), started with indies like Memento in the ‘00s. Tellingly, the guy I didn’t grow up with (though I like his stuff too), Tom Hooper of The King’s Speech, is the youngest of the nominated directors at 38.

The fast-talking actor Jesse Eisenberg’s turn in The Social Network makes him a strong contender in tomorrow’s ceremony.

Sometimes I suspect it was a calculated move on the Academy’s part. Are they trying to attract a younger demographic? Or is it just that the Academy itself is comprised of a new, younger generation whose numbers have swelled in recent years to make them a more considerable force? In a year with this many new faces and underdogs; heck, in a year when underground graffiti artist Banksy (whose real identity remains unknown) can be nominated for his brilliant documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop, the Oscar race is the most interesting it’s been in years.