The “no zoom” policy for this year’s Oscar ceremony is a headache for several nominees who live outside the United States and are still under pandemic restrictions, according to Hollywood publications.
Variety and Deadline Hollywood reported on Wednesday that advertisers and some studio executives complained to the film academy about logistics, costs and quarantine issues raised by the decision to ban nominees from attending the ceremony remotely.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which organizes the ceremony, did not return a request for comment on the reports.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the April 25 show to distribute the highest honors in the film industry will be held at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles and at the traditional Oscar home at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.
The producers said last week that “there will be no option to expand the show” and encouraged the nominees to attend in person.
At least nine nominees, including the Promising Young Woman director, Emerald Fennell, and star Carey Mulligan, live in Britain. England is expected next week to prohibit non-essential international travel until mid-May.
Representatives of the five international films – presented by Denmark, Hong Kong, Romania, Tunisia and Bosnia – may also face obstacles to reaching Los Angeles, noted Variety and Deadline.
Some of the other 200 nominees will be working on productions that require quarantine or living in restricted “bubbles” with cast and crew, the publications said.
Currently, visitors to California are expected to be quarantined for 10 days. Travelers to countries outside the United States are also subject to a variety of quarantine requirements.
Variety said a meeting this week to discuss issues between the Academy, film studio executives and advertisers was canceled.
Other awards programs in recent months have replaced the usual face-to-face meetings at gala dinners and on stage with pre-recorded presentations or virtual events, or a combination of those with small face-to-face meetings.
But television audiences dropped, with the Golden Globe and Grammy Awards attracting the fewest in decades.