Collins joins Stacey Sher and Oscar-winner Steven Soderbergh in creating the ceremony.

Emmy Award nominee Jesse Collins will join Oscar nominee Stacey Sher and Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh as producers of the 2021 Academy Awards. 

The show is being reimagined for the April 28 telecast, according to Academy President David Rubin and Academy Chief Executive Officer Dawn Hudson. 

Jesse Collins (above) will join acclaimed producer Stacey Sher and Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh in producing the 2021 Academy Awards. (Photo by Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

“This is a dream team who will respond directly to these times,” the two contend in a joint statement. “The Academy is excited to work with them to deliver an event that reflects the worldwide love of movies and how they connect us and entertain us when we need them most.”

The Academy has yet to announce the format of the show or how its talented planners will navigate the coronavirus pandemic. 

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Collins, Sher and Soderbergh said in their own joint statement that they were “thrilled and terrified in equal measure. Because of the extraordinary situation we’re all in, there’s an opportunity to focus on the movies and the people who make them in a new way, and we hope to create a show that really FEELS like the movies we all love.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a crippling effect on the film industry, with the release dates many highly-anticipated films being pushed back as movie theaters remain closed to stop the spread of the deadly virus. 

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According to Variety, the Academy extended the eligibility timeline from Dec. 31 to Feb. 28, 2021, in addition to having films that premiere on streaming platforms qualify for submission.

Collins is a Canadian-born actor and director who was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 2000 for his direction of the animated/puppet series, Zoboomafoo. He’s produced a slate of well-received award shows in the past, including last year’s Grammy Awards telecast, which resulted in his Emmy nomination. This year’s Grammy Awards show and the halftime extravaganza for Super Bowl LV fall under his care. 

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Sher produced Soderbergh’s 2000 hit Erin Brockovich and earned her second Oscar nom for producing Quentin Tarantino‘s 2012 Django Unchained.

Soderbergh is currently filming the motion picture No Sudden Move in Detroit. The crime thriller, set in the 1950s, stars Jon Hamm, Benicio Del Toro and Don Cheadle. 

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