Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and more to present at this year’s Oscars
Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow attend the ‘Iron Man 3’ photocall at The Dorchester on April 17, 2013, in London, England. (Mike Marsland/Getty Images)
Even more stars have been announced as presenters at the 98th Oscars.
Will Arnett, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Robert Downey Jr., Anne Hathaway, Paul Mescal and Gwyneth Paltrow will take to the Oscars stage to present awards at this year’s ceremony, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Thursday.
They join the previously announced presenters Javier Bardem, Chris Evans, Chase Infiniti, Demi Moore, Kumail Nanjiani and Maya Rudolph.
Also presenting are Adrien Brody, Kieran Culkin, Mikey Madison and Zoe Saldaña, who will all return to the awards ceremony after winning Oscars last year.
The producers for the Oscars will continue announcing the talent who will present at the show throughout the coming week, they announced.
Conan O’Brien will host the awards ceremony for the second time, while Raj Kapoor serves as executive producer and showrunner and Katy Mullan executive produces.
The Oscars will take place on March 15 at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. The show will air live on ABC and will also stream live on Hulu.
Stacey Dash as Dionne Davenport and Alicia Silverstone as Cher Horowitz in ‘Clueless”, written and directed by Amy Heckerling and released on July 21, 1995, by Paramount Pictures. (CBS via Getty Images)
The Library or Congress has announced the 25 films it has selected to join the National Film Registry in 2025.
Its selections for last year, which were announced on Thursday, span from the silent film era to iconic Hollywood movies from the last 50 years. Among those selected for the registry are Clueless, The Karate Kid, Inception, Before Sunrise, The Truman Show, The Incredibles and Philadelphia.
WesAnderson‘s The Grand Budapest Hotel is the most-recent film joining the collection, having debuted in 2014. The Library of Congress notes that making The Grand Budapest Hotel “included meticulous historical research at the Library of Congress” in order to create its visually striking scenery.
Some of the classic Hollywood selections include the 1954 musical White Christmas and the Bing Crosby, FrankSinatra and Louis Armstrong-starring musical High Society, which features Grace Kelly in her final film.
There were four documentaries selected: Ken Burns’ Brooklyn Bridge, Nancy Buirski’s The LovingStory, George Nierenberg’s Say Amen, Somebody and Danny Tedesco’s The Wrecking Crew.
The public submits nominations to be considered to join the archive. Over 7,500 submissions were made this year, and the Library of Congress chose 25 of them based on their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage.
“When we preserve films, we preserve American culture for generations to come. These selections for the National Film Registry show us that films are instrumental in capturing important parts of our nation’s story,” the acting Librarian of Congress Robert R. Newlen said.
Here are the 25 films selected for the 2025 National Film Registry: The Tramp and the Dog (1896) The Oath of the Sword (1914) The Maid of McMillan (1916) The Lady (1925) Sparrows (1926) Ten Nights in a Barroom (1926) White Christmas (1954) High Society (1956) Brooklyn Bridge (1981) Say Amen, Somebody (1982) The Thing (1982) The Big Chill (1983) The Karate Kid (1984) Glory (1989) Philadelphia (1993) Before Sunrise (1995) Clueless (1995) The Truman Show (1998) Frida (2002) The Hours (2002) The Incredibles (2004) The Wrecking Crew (2008) Inception (2010) The Loving Story (2011) The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
James Van Der Beek arrives at the premiere of Prime Video series ‘Overcompensating’ at Hollywood Palladium on May 14, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
James Van Der Beek, the actor best known for starring in the teen TV drama Dawson’s Creek and films including Varsity Blues, has died. He was 48.
“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace,” reads a note posted on Van Der Beek’s Instagram page. “There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time. Those days will come. For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend.”
Van Der Beek revealed in a November 2024 Instagram post that he’d been diagnosed with cancer, stating that despite the diagnosis he was “in a good place and feeling strong.”
Later that month, the actor further revealed to People that he was battling Stage 3 colorectal cancer. Van Der Beek shared that he received the diagnosis after a colonoscopy.
In December 2024, Van Der Beek joined Good Morning America to discuss his mindset and emotional state during his ongoing battle with the disease.
“And thus began the full-time job of having cancer, signing up for all the various medical portals and getting on the phone with insurance and creating appointments. … I was not prepared for just how much of a full-time job that it really is,” Van Der Beek said.
“I’m going to make changes that I never would have made otherwise, that I’m going to look back on in 30 years and say, ‘Thank gGod this happened.’ So, what can I do right now in order to make that the case? And that’s how it was, about 90 percent of the time,” he went on. “But 10 percent of the time, I was a sobbing, terrified mess, which I feel like is a pretty good percentage.”
Born March 8, 1977, in Cheshire, Connecticut, Van Der Beek began acting while in middle school and made his professional debut at age 16 in a 1993 off-Broadway production in New York City. He continued to appear in various amateur and professional productions throughout high school and while attending New Jersey’s Drew University.
It was while he was a student at Drew in 1998 that Van Der Beek auditioned for and won the title role of Dawson Leery in The WB network’s new show Dawson’s Creek. Van Der Beek dropped out of Drew University to star in the show for the whole of its six-year run, opposite fellow cast members and future stars Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams and Joshua Jackson.
“That was when life was at its craziest,” Van Der Beek said about his time on the hit show in a 2020 interview with Good Morning America. “At 20 years old I got stupidly lucky and found myself in a zeitgeist, cultural phenomenon TV show, and I was suddenly famous.”
Van Der Beek also admitted his sudden stardom was difficult to handle. “My reaction to fame was to run away from it,” he said, though looking back he said he would tell his younger self to “relax, be grateful, enjoy it.”
Despite having already begun a small film career with roles in films like the 1996 romantic drama I Love You, I Love You Not, which also starred Claire Danes, Julia Stiles and Jude Law, Van Der Beek’s Dawson’s Creek fame earned him the headlining role in the 1999 coming-of-age sports drama Varsity Blues. Van Der Beek’s character of Jonathan “Mox” Moxon, the backup quarterback on a small-town Texas high school football team, remains the film performance for which he’s best remembered. It also earned him the best breakout male performance award at the 1999 MTV Movie Awards.
“It was a movie I really, really cared about, it was a role I really cared about,” Van Der Beek told Good Morning America. “It was a role I really had to fight for. I had to fight for that role, nobody wanted me for that role initially.”
The success of Varsity Blues led to roles in other films, including 2000’s horror film send-up Scary Movie, in which Van Der Beek made a cameo appearance as his Dawson’s Creek character, the 2001 Western Texas Rangers and the 2002 dark comedy Rules of Attraction. Later film roles included the 2009 thriller Formosa Betrayed, 2013’s Labor Day with Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin, and the 2019 comedy Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
Yet Van Der Beek remained a larger small-screen presence, appearing on dozens of hit TV shows over the years in starring or guest roles, including How I Met Your Mother, Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23, One Tree Hill,Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, CSI: Cyber and Modern Family, as well as providing the voice of Boris Hauntley on the Disney animated children’s series Vampirina. Van Der Beek also placed fifth on season 28 of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars in 2019. In 2025, he was announced as a recurring character on the Legally Blonde prequel series Elle.
In September 2025, the cast of Dawson’s Creekreunited for a one-night-only live reading of the show’s pilot episode to raise money for the nonprofit F Cancer and for Van Der Beek. A stomach virus prevented him from attending in person — Tony winner Lin-Manuel Miranda stepped into the role of Dawson Leery in Van Der Beek’s place — but he shared a video message in which he thanked those who attended and shared his disappointment for not being unable to “stand on that stage and thank every soul in the theater for showing up for me, and against cancer, when I needed it most.”
Van Der Beek was married twice. He’s survived by his wife, film producer Kimberly Van Der Beek, and their six children.
The poster for ‘The Comeback King.’ (Universal Pictures)
The previously untitled original comedy from Judd Apatow and Glen Powell now has a title.
The Universal Pictures film will be called The Comeback King. It follows a country western star in free fall. This title announcement comes as production on the movie has started.
Apatow is set to direct and produce the film, which Powell will star in and also produce. The pair wrote the movie’s script together.
Cristin Milioti, Madelyn Cline, Stavros Halkias and Li Jin Hao will also star.
Apatow’s relationship with Universal Pictures traces back to his 2005 directorial debut The 40-Year-Old Virgin. He’s also directed Knocked Up, Funny People, This Is 40, Trainwreck and The King of Staten Island for the film studio.
Powell shared a post, which he collaborated on with Apatow, announcing the film’s title on Monday.
“THE COMEBACK KING,” he captioned his post. “Turn it up. Feb 2027.”
The Comeback King arrives in theaters on Feb. 5, 2027.
