The upcoming film awards season has its first official entry.
Variety has learned exclusively that Paris Barclay’s documentary “Billy Preston: That’s the Way God Planned It” is the first film uploaded to the Academy Screening Room. On the members-only platform, Oscar voters can stream movies for awards consideration for the 99th Academy Awards.
The upload serves as the unofficial starting gun for a race that will unfold over the next eight-plus months. A new wave of titles is expected to arrive in the coming weeks, with films added every Friday through the end of the season across all categories, including best picture, specialty races, documentary feature, animated feature, international feature and short film categories.
Distributed by Abramorama, the film currently holds a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was released in select theaters Feb. 20, beginning with a run at New York City’s Film Forum, after premiering at SXSW in Austin, Texas, in 2024. Reviewing the film for Variety following its SXSW debut, chief film critic Owen Gleiberman wrote that “as the documentary reveals, Billy Preston was an elusive figure — ebullient and all there, and also hidden and mysterious.”
Also adding: “Just when you think you’re watching an upbeat pop doc, the dark side of Billy Preston’s life comes crashing in. And is it ever dark.”
The film, which overcame a legal challenge on the eve of its SXSW premiere, chronicles the life of the legendary keyboardist and Grammy winner, who performed alongside The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Little Richard and many others.
Directed by Barclay, who co-writes with Cheo Hodari Coker, the documentary features interviews with Billy Porter, Ringo Starr, Merry Clayton and Preston’s longtime friend Eric Clapton, alongside an original score by Robert Glasper. Producers include Stephanie Allain, Coker, Jeanne Elfant Festa and Nigel Sinclair.
Preston enjoyed a successful solo career, scoring No. 1 hits with “Outa-Space,” “Will It Go Round in Circles,” “Nothing From Nothing” and “You Are So Beautiful.” His breakthrough single, “That’s the Way God Planned It,” was recorded in 1969 for The Beatles’ Apple Records and produced by his friend George Harrison. Preston died in 2006 and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.
The documentary marks Barclay’s first feature-length film and is by one of television’s most acclaimed and accomplished directors. Across a career spanning nearly 200 episodes on TV, he has helmed series such as “NYPD Blue,” “ER,” “The West Wing,” “Lost,” “The Good Wife,” “CSI,” “Sons of Anarchy,” “House,” “Glee” and more.
Barclay won two Emmy Awards for directing “NYPD Blue” and has earned eight additional Emmy nominations for producing and directing, including three for “Glee,” one for “The West Wing” and one for “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.” He remains one of the few directors in Emmy history to receive directing nominations in all three television formats: drama, comedy and limited series.
The upcoming Oscar season brings lots of anticipated titles from auteur filmmakers such as Christopher Nolan (“The Odyssey”), Denis Villeneuve (“Dune: Part Three”), Martin McDonagh (“Wild Horse Nine”) and more. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Wednesday that it will present Honorary Oscars to veteran actress Glenn Close, legendary director Ridley Scott and Disney’s first Black animator Floyd Norman, while producers Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, longtime champions of independent film, will receive the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.
The penultimate Academy Awards for Disney platforms will be hosted by Conan O’Brien and will air live on ABC and Hulu from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 14, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.
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