Oscars 2021: 'There will not be an option to Zoom in for the show'

The event will be held both at the Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles and at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood

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  The waiting area under construction at the Downtown Los Angeles Union Station, where part of the 2021 Oscars Ceremony will take place. AFP

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  The old ticketing concourse at the Downtown Los Angeles Union Station, where part of the 2021 Oscars Ceremony will take place. AFP

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  The old ticketing concourse at the Downtown Los Angeles Union Station, where part of the 2021 Oscars Ceremony will take place. AFP

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  The main entrance of the Downtown Los Angeles Union Station, where part of the 2021 Oscars Ceremony will take place. AFP

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  The main entrance of the Downtown Los Angeles Union Station, where part of the 2021 Oscars Ceremony will take place. AFP

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  Downtown Los Angeles Union Station, where part of the 2021 Oscars Ceremony will take place. Academy president David Rubin confirmed this year's Oscars would be broadcast from Los Angeles' cavernous Union Station as well as its traditional Dolby Theatre home in Hollywood. AFP

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  The information booth at the main entrance of Downtown Los Angeles Union Station, where part of the 2021 Oscars Ceremony will take place. AFP

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  The second patio of Downtown Los Angeles Union Station, where part of the 2021 Oscars Ceremony will take place. AFP

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  The second patio of Downtown Los Angeles Union Station, where part of the 2021 Oscars Ceremony will take place. AFP

The Oscars ceremony in April will be an intimate, in-person gathering, held without Zoom and limited to nominees, presenters and their guests, the producers said on Thursday.

Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the show to hand out the highest honours in the movie industry will be held both at the Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles and the traditional home of the Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Everyone will be tested, and there will be a Covid-19 safety team on site throughout the evening on April 25.

Scroll through the gallery above to see more photos of where the 2021 Oscars will be held.

"There will not be an option to Zoom in for the show," producers Steven Soderbergh, Jesse Collins and Stacey Sher said in a note to the more than 200 nominees this year.

"We are going to great lengths to provide a safe and enjoyable evening for all of you in person, as well as for all the millions of film fans around the world, and we feel the virtual thing will diminish those efforts," the producers said.

They said nominees and their guests would gather at a courtyard in the Union train station, while other show elements would be held live inside the Dolby Theatre some 12.9 kilometres away.

Normally, hundreds of the world's top movie stars would gather in the 3,400-seat theatre for a live show preceded by a red carpet packed with photographers and camera crews.

The information booth at the main entrance of Downtown Los Angeles Union Station, where part of the 2021 Oscars Ceremony will take place. AFP

Other awards shows in recent months have replaced the usual gatherings at gala dinners and on stage with pre-recorded appearances or virtual events or a combination.

Television audiences have slumped, with the Golden Globes and the Grammys attracting the smallest numbers in decades.

Nominations for the Oscars were announced on Monday, with 1930s Hollywood drama Mank leading the field with 10, followed by The Father, Black Panther story Judas and the Black Messiah, Korean-language drama Minari, Nomadland, #MeToo revenge tale Promising Young Woman, Amazon Studio deaf drama Sound of Metal, and 1960s Vietnam War courtroom drama The Trial of the Chicago 7.