Conan O’Brien Reveals He Almost Opened Oscars 2025 With Wicked, Dune, and Conclave Parody: ‘We Kind of Honed It’

by

This year’s Oscars hosting performance by Conan O’Brien garnered numerous praises from online users. From his clever jokes about Emilia Perez to the amusing portrayal of a Dune worm in the orchestra, his monologue was well-received, with the opening sequence effectively setting the mood for the rest of the event.

As an ardent fan, I couldn’t help but notice that O’Brien cleverly paid homage to the unsettling scene from “The Substance” at the awards show. In a twist from the usual reaction, he crawled out from behind Demi Moore during the opening act, which had the audience roaring with laughter instead of the chilling gasps that moviegoers had experienced when Margaret Qualley’s character emerged in the film.

In Conan’s account, several additional films that were nominated during that event were intended to be part of his comedy routine. On his podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, he disclosed his plan to make fun of all the movies. He described the potential 4-minute sketch, saying it would open with him playing a character from Wicked, singing ‘Defying Gravity’ or one of the other songs, all dressed in green. The scene would then transition to Gladiator II, complete with sword sounds and visuals of him as a gladiator. However, you’d quickly notice that he was still green.

Previously known night-show host continues, “Next, you proceed to the Conclave… and observe individuals casting votes with their ballots, but one of the hands remains green.” Interestingly, Conan was planning to appear in Dune Part 2, as his hand would be permanently green. He mentioned that the concept was “because the dye wouldn’t wash off and we had to film it all in a single day.

Longtime collaborator Mike Sweeney shares that despite their fondness for it, the “cold-open” scene was finalized prior to the fires in L.A., and afterward, they continued refining it.

Indeed, although many of the host’s concepts were discarded prior to the broadcast, judging by the audience’s reaction, it appears they found nothing amiss or disappointing in the end.

Read More

2025-03-13 21:22