With the 96th Academy Awards just hours away, actors, directors and Hollywood's biggest stars descended on the Dolby Theater on Saturday for the official dress rehearsal ahead of the big day.
The run-through, held every year as a way to familiarize the presenters and production staff with the flow of events before the movies' biggest night, went off with only a few minor hiccups and a few major pauses to allow the camera block and adjust the lighting for stars like Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Steven Spielberg, America Ferrera and more. ET's Hope Sloop was in the theater, watching as the show's building blocks were stacked together to reveal an exciting — and hilarious — evening planned.
Earlier in the day – prior to ET's entrance into the auditorium – he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor Ryan Gosling went on stage to practice for his performance on Sunday. The actor will be one of five musical acts to perform their Oscar-nominated song, which is Gosling's power anthem from Barbie, “I'm just Ken.” For the casual practice run, Gosling wore a ball cap, sunglasses and a Grave Diggers T-shirt, which still exuded his character's hard rock and too-cool-for-school Kenergy.
ET first came in as Nyong'o, an Academy Award winner for her role in 12 years slave — was on stage with a mix of other presenters, represented by stand-ins because the others involved couldn't make it to rehearsal. As she stood patiently in sweats and a puffer vest, she listened intently to the cues and introductions for the nominees in her respective category. To maintain the element of surprise, ET has been asked not to reveal which category or categories each presenter will read on Sunday.
After stepping outside and taking a moment to change the stage and lighting colors, Zendaya was welcomed with loud applause as she approached an imaginary microphone to announce an imaginary winner. The actress – still with a slightly hoarse voice after losing her voice while they promote Dune: part 2 – stunned in a dark green jacket, jeans and black loafers, stumbling over her lines only once while reading from the teleprompter.
After Zendaya, Spielberg – himself an eight-time Best Director nominee – arrived for the run-through in the early morning hours on Saturday, dressed in his casual best with jeans and a scarf for the presentation. The two-time winner, clearly superstitious about cursing the nominees in the category he is presenting, refused to announce a randomly chosen winner for the purpose of the event, even after a production member told him it was okay to read it.
“No, because it's bad luck,” he said, laughing. “It's bad luck.”
Ferrera – herself nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category – and Kate McKinnon practiced their speech to the audience together, presumably in heels for the big show. While the “Weird Barbie” actress wore a traditional black suit and black heels, Ferrera added a serious pop of color with pink high heels to accompany her jeans and black leather jacket. Hilarious, the two Barbie stars flapped and cursed as they both went in to read the same line.
“Oh wait, f**k,” they said together as they both went to introduce the nominees. The audience – a skeleton of producers, stand-ins and technical workers – burst into laughter as they worked it out together and the names of the nominees were read out via voice-over. The hilarious chaos between the two comedy actresses continued as they announced the fake winner, accompanied by the presenter saying “just for this rehearsal” to ensure no false reports are shared about the winner of each category.
“And the Oscar goes to…” McKinnon said as Ferrera quickly interjected “just for this rehearsal,” drawing another collective laugh and making the audience chuckle along.
At the very end of the observable rehearsal, Catherine O'Hara And Michael Keaton presented together and held back laughter as they went through a piece related to their categories. The pair were also turned around twice as they waited to be presented with their practice Oscars.
In a hilarious moment before ET left, Keaton supposedly walked away from O'Hara, prompting her to shout “Michael” twice. The sound of the Schitts Creek The actress' voice rang through the crowd, even without a microphone. The sound was eerily familiar to any fan of Home alone who has O'Hara's classic (and iconic) “Kevin!” line in the movie.
Those who have announced they will co-present but will not attend Saturday's trial include: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga stars Chris Hemsworth And Anya Taylor Joy like Barbie'S Issa Rae And Poor things' Ramy Youssef.
The 96th Academy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will air live on March 10 from the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, California, starting at 7:00 PM ET/4:00 PM PT on ABC. In the meantime, stay tuned ETonline.com for complete Oscars coverage.
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