Oscars 2021 producer Steven Soderbergh opens up about decision to swap category order

sSteven Soderbergh, one of the producers of Oscars 2021, has finally opened up about the decisions and changes he made in this year’s ceremony. He shared his thoughts as to why he switched the order in which awards were presented; from Best Picture coming before the Lead Actor categories to not allowing Zoom acceptance speeches.

Soderbergh served as a producer alongside Stacey Sher and Jesse Collins for the big starry night. In a recent  interview published by the Los Angeles Times, Soderbergh asserted that he was not aware of the negative response because he doesn’t read reviews. He shared that the decision of changing the order was taken even before the nominations were announced.

“So the goal was to really do something different and let the academy sift through the response and decide what they would do going forward. We thought it might be fun to mix it up, especially if people didn’t know that was coming,” Soderbergh reasoned.

He admitted that they stuck with the decision as there was a possibility of late Chadwick Boseman’s win in the Best Actor category. He added, “And then when the nominations came out and there was even the possibility that Chadwick could win posthumously, our feeling was if he were to win and his widow were to speak on his behalf, there would be nowhere to go after that. So we stuck with it”.

Throughout the interview, Soderbergh was aware of the negative reactions about the incomplete ceremony finale, also when best actor winner Anthony Hopkins was unable to accept his award due to no Zoom rule. Further, when the publication questioned him if he would rethink the decision, Soderbergh instantly replied saying: “No”. He feels that the decision to not end the show with the best picture award was out of a respectful conscience.

However, Walt Disney Television’s executive vice president Rob Mills also came forward to explain that there were various categories in a different order placed this year. Further describing the movie, he termed it as a “calculated risk”.