Conan O’Brien is known for keeping things loose. Not in the sense of casualness, but more the idea that when it comes to giving him a stage and a microphone, anything can happen. Usually, this has proven to be his superpower, as exemplified in his viral appearance on “Hot Ones” last year, but when it comes to an event like the Academy Awards, he knows he’ll be playing to a very particular crowd.
Speaking to The New York Times for an interview ahead of his Oscars hosting gig on Sunday, March 2, O’Brien admitted that as prepared as he is, he’s also ready to pivot should the crowd not feel what he’s putting out.
“Nothing’s in stone. I’m leaving every possibility on the table. I have choices right now, and we’ll see what happens,” he said, adding later, “There will be things that don’t go the way I want them to go. But stay open to the possibility that that’s a gift, and you can make something out of it.”
The comedian and longtime late-night mainstay acknowledged that his turn up at bat on one of entertainment’s biggest stages comes when he’s feeling particularly “nostalgic” about his childhood and the influence celebrities have had on his life and career since then. O’Brien lost both of his parents late last year, only a few days apart, then later had to face evacuating his home during the SoCal wildfires in January. He knows others attending the Oscars will be coming from similar places and wants to acknowledge their shared pain, but also wants to keep the spotlight on the power movies still hold.
“Really good cinema — especially when it’s from different countries, different points of view — has an incredible amount of resonance and importance right now, and this is the night that celebrates that,” said O’Brien. “To be a part of it is meaningful to me. I don’t think of it as a thankless task — even if I just do it once, and no one’s interested in me doing it again, it will have been a meaningful experience for me. My parents aren’t here to see it, but I know it would have been a huge deal to them.”
In terms of the films that caught his attention over the last year, O’Brien did share that he’s seen most of the ones nominated and there a few that stood above the rest.
“[In ‘A Complete Unknown’], there is a scene where Timothée Chalamet, as Bob Dylan, is trying to write a song — you see him struggling. I thought it was a great depiction of the creative process, which is usually misrepresented in film,” he told The NYT. “I was blown away by Mikey Madison in ‘Anora.’ I loved ‘Conclave.’ I’d watch Ralph Fiennes read from an electrical manual.”
But more important than these big name contenders, O’Brien believed, are the independent filmmakers from all over the world who could hardly imagine themselves or their work being honored by Hollywood’s biggest names.
“When I see these people that have come from, you know, Latvia, get up onstage, if they get up for [the animated film] “Flow,” that’s thrilling to me,” said O’Brien. “You’re seeing someone have the greatest moment of their life. It can be transformative.”
The 2025 Oscars air on ABC and stream on Hulu starting at 4pm PT/7pm ET, Sunday, March 2.
