Jimmy Kimmel Goes to BarbieLand in Elaborate Oscars Promo, With Help From Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera and More — Watch
Hi Barbie, er, Jimmy!
Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel is hopelessly lost in a new promo for ABC’s telecast of the Academy Awards, and his twisted path takes him deep into the very pink realm of Best Picture nominee/blockbuster hit Barbie.
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“Since the dawn of time, men have been getting lost,” Helen Mirren says at the top of the spot, returning to the narrator role she had in Greta Gerwig’s film. “This is the story of one such dum-dum.”
Kimmel’s inability to navigate brings him to the home of Weird Barbie (Saturday Night Live‘s Kate McKinnon), who calls him “Kimmy Jimmel” and leads him through a brightly colored montage — like the ones in Barbie — highlighting several of this year’s nominated movies. (See a full list.) Along the way, as McKinnon and Kimmel pass by Oppenheimer‘s section of town, the late-night host gets in a dig at his eternal adversary, Matt Damon, who stars in the film.
“What happened to that guy’s face?” he asks, gesturing toward an image of Damon in his Oppenheimer military uniform. “Born that way,” McKinnon responds. “Oh, that poor, hideous, incredibly disgusting, ugly man,” he says as they both don goggles to protect their eyes.
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Later, when they arrive at the theater for the ceremony, Kimmel admits that he’s nervous about his upcoming fourth return as Oscars host. That’s when McKinnon’s Barbie co-star — and Best Supporting Actress nominee — America Ferrera pops up to give him a pep talk. “It’s literally impossible to host the Oscars,” she says, launching into a spoof of her celebrated Barbie monologue: “If it goes well, no one says anything. But if it doesn’t? It’s your fault.”
Toward the end of the five-minute spot, Best Supporting Actor nominee Ryan Gosling appears in his “I Am Kenough” sweatshirt to confidently assure everyone that Gerwig’s “got [Best] Director in the bag.” When Ferrera informs him that Gerwig was, in fact, snubbed in that category, he screams in horror. (Wait ’til he hears about Margot Robbie.)
Gosling and Kimmel end the promo with prolonged yells while McKinnon and Ferrera look on resignedly and Mirren informs us: “Girls grow into women, but not all boys grow into men. Some remain stuck in a loop of infantile foolishness. One of them will host the Oscars.”
The live Oscars ceremony will air on Sunday, March 10, at 7/6c. To watch the spot in full, press PLAY on the video above, then hit the comments with your thoughts!
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