First-time nominee Lin-Manuel Miranda reflects on watching the Oscars as a child
This weekend will be the first time “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda has attended the Academy Awards, and it comes after a lifetime of watching the show. In a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter, Miranda recounts the reasons the show has always been special to him.
“When I was a kid, the Oscars felt like this impossibly larger-than-life thing,” he said in the column.
He said watching the Oscars when he was a child was always a “family affair.” Miranda, 37, remembers watching in 1990, rooting for “The Little Mermaid” to win best song and best score, the first time he “felt like I had a horse in the race.”
The New York City native said some of his favorite memories of past Oscars include frequent host Billy Crystal‘s over-the-top entrances.
“One year he came in on a horse, another as Hannibal Lecter with the face mask, and one time Jack Palance dragged him onstage,” he said. “I was a huge fan of those moments and musical numbers. They showed a genuine love of movies while still poking fun at them.”
When Whoopi Goldberg won the Oscar for her performance in “Ghost (1990),” Miranda said he was watching. She gave…