A topsy-turvy Oscar season concludes Sunday. Here’s what to look for at Sunday’s show

Los Angeles, Mar 2 (AP) After a topsy-turvy Oscar season in which frontrunners were constantly shuffled, old tweets hobbled a top contender and space was held for “Wicked,” the 97th Academy Awards get underway Sunday.

Sunday’s Academy Awards, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, will bring to a close one of the most unpredictable Oscar races in recent memory.

The ceremony kicks off 7 p.m. EST and will be broadcast by ABC and streamed on Hulu. Conan O’Brien is hosting for the first time. The official red carpet preshow on ABC and Hulu starts at 6.30 p.m. Unofficial E! red carpet coverage begins at 4 p.m. EST and The Associated Press will livestream arrivals beginning at 3 p.m.

Light rain was in the forecast for Sunday morning in Los Angeles, which is still recovering from wildfires that devastated the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighbourhoods earlier this year.

The fires affected many throughout the film industry and within the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Some even called for the cancellation of Hollywood’s awards season. While his Pacific Palisades house was spared, O’Brien has been living out of a hotel the last two months. Oscar producers have said the show will celebrate the city’s resilience.

Is there an Oscar favourite?

The lead nominee is Netflix’s “Emilia Pérez,” with 13 nominations, but that film has seen its chances crater following uproar over years-old offensive tweets by its star, Karla Sofía Gascón, the first openly trans actor nominated for best actress.

The favourite is Sean Baker’s “Anora,” about a sex worker who weds the son of a Russian oligarch. The Neon release, the Cannes Palme d’Or winner, won with the producers, directors and writers guild. The only movie with the same resume to not win best picture is “Brokeback Mountain.”

Its closest competition is “Conclave,” the papal thriller starring Ralph Fiennes. It won at the BAFTAs and the SAG Awards, wins that came just as Pope Francis was hospitalised for double pneumonia. Oscar voting concluded before the pope fell ill.

Also in the mix are “The Brutalist,” nominated for 10 awards, and the musical hit “Wicked,” also with 10 nominations. Several of the early craft Oscars could be shared between “Wicked” and “Dune: Part Two.”

Will politics play a starring role?

For the first time, an actor is nominated for playing the sitting U.S. president. Sebastian Stan is nominated for best actor for his performance as a young Donald Trump in “The Apprentice,” as is his co-star, Jeremy Strong, for playing Roy Cohn. Trump has called those involved with the film “human scum.”

The political tenor of this year’s ceremony could be volatile, with the Oscars coming weeks into the second Trump administration and falling two days after the president’s dramatic rupture with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.

Speaking earlier this week, O’Brien said he’ll strive to strike a delicate balance.

“I cannot ignore the moment we’re in,” he said. “But I also have to remember it’s threading a needle. I also have to remember what we’re here to celebrate and infuse the show with positivity.”

Will Timothée Chalamet win his first Oscar?

While the supporting acting categories feature overwhelming favourites in Zoe Saldana (“Emilia Pérez”) and Kieran Culkin (“A Real Pain”), both best actor and best actress are close contests.

In best actress, Demi Moore (“The Substance”) is most likely to win, but Mikey Madison (“Anora”) or Fernanda Torres (“I’m Still Here”) could pull off the upset.

Adrien Brody is favoured in best actor for his performance in “The Brutalist. But Timothée Chalamet stands a decent chance of beating him, for his performance as Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown.” The 29-year-old Chalamet, who won at the Screen Actors Guild, would become the youngest best actor winner ever, edging Brody’s record, set in 2003 in his win for “The Pianist.”

Can the show lift a battered Hollywood?

This year’s Oscars are unspooling after a turbulent year for the film industry. Ticket sales were down 3 per cent from the previous year and more significantly from pre-pandemic times. The strikes of 2023 played havoc with release schedules in 2024. Many studios pulled back on production, leaving many out of work. The fires, in January, only added to the pain.

Last year’s telecast, propelled by the twin blockbusters of “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie,” led the Oscars to a four-year viewership high, with 19.5 million viewers. This year, with smaller independent films favoured in the most prominent awards, the academy will be tested to draw as large of an audience.

With a not particularly starry array of best song nominees, the academy has done away with performances of original songs this year. But there will be music, including a performance by “Wicked” stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, and a tribute to the late Quincy Jones, with Queen Latifah.

Last year’s acting winners — Emma Stone, Robert Downey Jr., Cillian Murphy, Da’Vine Joy Randolph — will also take part in the ceremony. Though the academy initially said it would bring back the “fab five” style of presenting the acting awards, with five previous winners per category, organisers have reportedly abandoned those plans.

The ceremony will be taking place days following the death of Gene Hackman. The 95-year-old two-time Oscar winner and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead Wednesday at their New Mexico home.