Snack boxes, dinner by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck and an optional post-festivities run of McDonald’s are on the menu for stars attending the 96th Academy Awards.
The film world’s annual night of nights will take over Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, this Sunday, March 10. This means we can livestream it in Australia on Monday, March 11.
This year’s ceremony starts at 7pm US East Coast time (4pm Pacific Coast time, where it’s filmed), with a preshow hosted by Vanessa Hudgens starting at 6:30pm ET. Celebrity guests and their lucky plus ones filing into the auditorium are likely to find snack boxes under their seats.
In previous years, Jimmy Kimmel, set to host this year’s event, organised a goodie bag of sweet and savoury snacks for attendees. Guests were treated to American lollies including, Good ‘n Plenty, Milk Duds, and Hot Tamales and pretzels by actor Adam Shapiro’s Shappy Pretzel Co., alongside a note from Kimmel reading, “Isn’t this a surprise?”. He added that each box corresponded to a donation made to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.
We don’t like it when people are hungry, so Jimmy provided snacks for everyone at the #Oscars and included a donation to the @LAFoodBank for each one! #Oscars #ShappyPretzel @TheAcademy https://t.co/Epp3SmpNyi pic.twitter.com/alosCc9ayO
— Jimmy Kimmel Live (@JimmyKimmelLive) March 13, 2023
The show usually lasts around 3.5 hours, so finishes at 7:30pm Pacific Coast time. Guests then head to the Governors Ball in the Ray Dolby Ballroom next to Dolby Theatre for dinner. This year, Wolfgang Puck Catering will celebrate its 30th year of curating and supplying the menu.
The catering company’s namesake chef will be joined by Chef Eric Klein, a partner in the company, and pastry chefs Kamel Guechida and Garry Larduinat for the job.
“We can make everything taste good,” Puck told Variety magazine. “We cook everything at the last moment, and everything is very flavourful and very tasty.”
For drinks, mixologist Charles Joly, along with Mexico’s 2023 World Class Bartender of the Year, Israel Baron, will curate Tequila Don Julio specialty cocktails, including 1942 Encore and Round of Applause. Champagne Fleur de Miraval, Brad Pitt’s brand and the only Champagne house exclusively devoted to rosé, will be back for the third year.
For the second consecutive year, Clarendelle & Domaine Clarence Dillon wines will pour red and white wines at the Governors Ball and other Oscar-related events.
However, some celebrities will skip the Governors Ball and make a beeline for fast food spots McDonald’s or In-N-Out Burger, as Kimmel does.
“The award show tradition is In-N-Out after the show,” he told People magazine, explaining that “because when people are in LA, one of the things on their list is to go to In-N-Out – and there are a lot of people that are in LA just for the Oscars – so they wind up going like, ‘Okay’.”
After the Governors Ball, stars then disperse, going to their pick of the many afterparties happening around LA. Easily the most famous among them is the Vanity Fair Oscars party, which attracts the biggest names and sees many of them wearing a second outfit for its red carpet.
At this year’s Vanity Fair Oscars party, LA celebrity chef Evan Funke will be on hand to feed the crowd. He’s set to cook up pizzas with extra-crispy slices in outdoor ovens, according to The Daily Beast.
“There are no mistakes,” he told the publication. “Even if you mess it up, the worst that can happen is pizza.”
Related: The Night Where Anything Can Happen — How to Watch Oscars in Australia
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