Will the 2021 Oscars really take place in a train station? Having hosted everyone from Leonardo DiCaprio to Ben Affleck, LA’s Union Station is a star in its own right
- Making Brad Pitt and Zendaya present the Oscars from an 82-year-old Hollywood train station may seem odd, but this is no ordinary transport hub
- Its gorgeous interiors have featured in dozens of films, from Blade Runner to The Dark Knight Rises, and its soaring ceilings are perfect for camera crews
But the Ocean’s 11 director needed a star location for the biggest night in film and landed on Los Angeles’ Union Station.
Union Station is and always been a star – in architecture, in Los Angeles history, and as a star in films
A bustling Amtrak and regional transport hub for the Oscars? It’s actually a stellar choice since the architectural gem offers beauty and grandeur – especially with the Grand Waiting Room and Historic Ticketing Hall, where most of the ceremony will take place. The hall’s 62-foot (19-metre) vaulted ceilings and tree-filled outdoor patios also prove beneficial for health and safety for the in-person event amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The appropriate irony is my first impressions of Union Station in its physical grandeur are from seeing it in films,” Soderbergh said at a press conference prior to the event. “That was certainly part of the reason I proposed it as a possible venue for this year’s show.”
The nearly 82-year-old station is even about to show off a Hollywood facelift, with an eight-year restoration of its historic ceiling complete in time for Sunday’s show.
“Union Station is and always been a star – in architecture, in Los Angeles history, and as a star in films,” says movie historian Marc Wanamaker.
Designed by the father-son architect team of John and Donald Parkinson, Union Station opened with a three-day celebratory event in 1939 that tied in with a locomotive-led parade promoting Cecil B. DeMille’s train-centric Western Union Pacific.