Tradition has long dictated that the previous year's Oscar winners in acting categories present the awards to the opposite gender. In that regard, Emma Stone (who won for her role in La La Land last year) will introduce the Best Actor Oscar to this year's crop of nominees. However, on the other side of the aisle, things are going to be a little different, as Casey Affleck has officially bowed out as the presenter for the 2018 Best Actress category at this year's Academy Awards.
Following Casey Affleck's Best Actor win for his turn as Lee Chandler in Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester By The Sea, it only seemed natural for him to once again take the stage at this year's ceremony to present the award to one of the Best Actress nominees -- which include The Shape of Water's Sally Hawkins, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri's Frances McDormand, I, Tonya's Margot Robbie, Lady Bird's Saoirse Ronan, and The Post's Meryl Streep. However, in the face of allegations of sexual harassment on the set of his 2010 film I'm Still Here, Affleck has reportedly opted to forgo the evening and allow the focus of the event to fall on the performances.
The Deadline report of Casey Affleck's departure as an Academy Award presenter raises clear questions about who will perform the duty in his absence. One obvious option would be to have host Jimmy Kimmel merely step in to present the award, while another would involve allowing Emma Stone to take the stage a second time and give the award to her successor. No alternative course of action has been confirmed yet, so we will have to wait and see who eventually steps in for the presenter duties over the course of the next few weeks.
It's arguably not that surprising to see that the situation has panned out this way. Thus far, much of awards season has been dictated by the growing strength of the #MeToo movement, with many actors and actresses using various awards shows (notably the Golden Globes) to chime in on the topic. It's reasonable to assume that this will remain a major topic of conversation as the Oscars draw near, so Casey Affleck has simply opted to remove himself from the discussion and reshift the focus of the evening elsewhere.
CinemaBlend will keep you updated with any and all relevant information about this year's Academy Award ceremony as new details become available to us. Make sure to catch the ceremony when it airs on Sunday, March 4 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC, and until then, hop over to our 2018 movie premiere guide to keep yourself in the loop on all of the most prominent release dates of the year!
