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The Envelope gives us our first look at this year's Oscar set, an over-the-top concoction featuring columns supporting nothing, flanked by giant white seashells, and crowned by a golden, cursive "Oscar" in what appears to be cake-icing font. Oscar set design veteran Roy Christopher explains:

"I'm not comfortable being literal, but I'm finding that people like things they can identify with," admits Christopher, whose design incorporates a theater box office and movie poster frames. [...]


At the unveiling, [producer Gil] Cates introduced Christopher as "the best designer that television has ever had," and summed up the 17-time Oscar designer's m.o. thusly: "Roy is willing to take the big gamble and obviously, suck us all into the big gamble with him."

The gamble ends up paying off handsomely when the set, through some cutting-edge hydraulics, surprises everyone by folding in on itself, thereby revealing the campy black and white paradise to be the contents of Truman Capote's massive, rotating head.