Oscar-winning producer Donna Gigliotti will produce the 91st Oscars, and Emmy-winning director Glenn Weiss will co-produce and direct the show, Academy president John Bailey announced Monday.
Gigliotti, who will be overseeing the awards broadcast for the first time when ABC airs the 91st Oscars from Hollywood on Feb. 24, 2019, won a best picture Oscar as one of the producers of 1998’s Shakespeare in Love. She also has been a best picture Oscar nominee for The Reader, Silver Linings Playbook and Hidden Figures. Her other credits include such films as Beasts of No Nation, Two Lovers and Emma.
Weiss has more familiarity with the challenge of mounting the Oscars, since he directed the last three broadcasts, winning two Emmys, among his 14 Primetime Emmy Awards, for outstanding director for a variety special for the 2017 and 2018 shows. While he has not previously served as an Oscar show producer, he has regularly served as an executive producer of Broadway’s Tony Awards. A veteran of awards shows, he amassed such directing credits for the Kennedy Center Honors, Primetime Emmy Awards and Billboard Music Awards, among others.
In announcing the two producers, Bailey said, “Donna and Glenn will infuse new energy and vision into this 91st awards presentation, and we are excited about a broad-based creative relationship with these two artists.” Added Channing Dungey, president of ABC Entertainment, “Donna Gigliotti has worked on some of the most celebrated films of our time and is uniquely qualified to bring her talent to the most anticipated awards show of the year. And, thanks to Glenn Weiss, we just experienced the most talked-about moment at the Emmys with his heartfelt onstage wedding proposal. We can’t wait to see how they top that at the Oscars.” (Called to the stage to accept his Emmy for directing the Oscars at the Emmy Awards on Sept. 17, Weiss used the moment to propose to his girlfriend Jan Svendsen, who then joined him onstage where she emotionally accepted.)
Gigliotti and Weiss will be succeeding the team of Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd, who produced the last two Oscar broadcasts. And they take on the job as the Academy and ABC contend with a ratings decline for the broadcast, which in February attracted a record-low viewership of 26.6 million viewers.
In accepting that challenge, Gigliotti said, “I’m grateful to the Academy and ABC for entrusting me with this very special opportunity. I’m sure it will prove to be a humbling, exhilarating and completely unique experience. Thankfully, I will have Glenn Weiss by my side every step of the way!”
Added Weiss, “I’m so looking forward to being back to help celebrate and honor the film industry and all the talented people behind this year’s movies. And I am ‘co-excited’ to be co-producing this year’s show with Donna Gigliotti!”
(Excerpt) Read more in: The Hollywood Reporter