LOS ANGELES — (AP) — Amelia Dimoldenberg only needs 60 seconds with Timothée Chalamet.
In her decade of hosting the popular YouTube show "Chicken Shop Date," she hasn't yet casually, awkwardly flirted with Chalamet over nuggets under bright fluorescent lights. Sunday, though, she might get her chance: Dimoldenberg will be on the Oscars red carpet as an official correspondent and social media ambassador for the show. Chalamet is nominated for best actor, for his turn as Bob Dylan in "A Complete Unknown." It could happen.
But Dimoldenberg, 31, knows as well as anyone that you can’t really control what happens, or whom you get to talk to, on a red carpet — especially one as busy as the Oscars'. This will be her second year in the position. Last year, she riffed with Billie Eilish, flirted with Taylor Zakhar Perez, talked about falling with Jennifer Lawrence and played rock, paper, scissors with Dwayne Johnson.
“I love the challenge of it — having 90 seconds with someone and you have to get something incredible,” she said. “There’s a conveyor belt of celebrities, so if you love celebrity interviews it’s kind of the best place to be.”
She has a long list of hopefuls this year, including nominees like Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande (whom she's never met), Adrien Brody, Kieran Culkin, Jesse Eisenberg and Mikey Madison. Sometimes, the celebrity is familiar with her work and her character; sometimes they're not. That character, an exaggerated version of herself, is a celebrity interviewer who is actually on a date with her subjects: She's at turns desperate and overly confident, flirting in what she's described as a very British way of making the other person think you don't like them.
In the show, she makes the interactions even more awkward, and funnier, in the edit. On a red carpet, there are no such crutches. The key, she said, is going with the flow and making her interviewees feel comfortable no matter what.
“I don’t prefer one way or the other,” Dimoldenberg said. “Sometimes people I’ve met for the very first time I could have an incredible rapport with and they kind of are pleasantly surprised by my style in a way that’s fun and refreshing.”
Her style is a bit of a departure in tone for the esteemed, buttoned-up show, but indicative of the changing tides of the traditional media landscape and everyone's desire to reach broader audiences.
“Her lighthearted, humorous approach results in relatable, authentic moments,” said Jennifer Davidson, the academy’s head of marketing and communications. “Last year’s content throughout Oscars season was so well received, it only made sense to ask her back for a second year.”
Dimoldenberg is not just the host of "Chicken Shop Date" and occasional red carpet correspondent, but a mogul in the making. The show was her idea, and she produces it under the banner of her production company Dimz Inc. Her YouTube channel boasts more than 2.8 million subscribers and her videos have over 668 million views. But it wasn't too long ago that a YouTube show would have been the last thing a studio would have selected for a film's press tour — especially a movie with Oscars dreams. Now, shows like hers and the similarly poultry-based "Hot Ones" are becoming regular stops.
Her big breakthrough with movie stars came when Daniel Kaluuya participated in a "date" in 2020. Up until then it had been mainly musicians, but now she had an Oscar-nominated actor. Two years later, a red carpet interview with Andrew Garfield went viral and her profile skyrocketed. They reunited recently while he was promoting "We Live In Time," which was received as much as an event as the movie itself.
“I always thought it was going to be a hit, if I’m honest,” Dimoldenberg said. “I just thought it was a great idea, and I always wanted to be interviewing the biggest stars in the world. It just took 10 years to get there.”
Dimoldenberg has big plans for the future with several projects in development with her company. Her main concern is making sure that anything she puts her name on stays authentic to her. She was recently the subject of a lengthy profile in The New Yorker — which she liked being part of, but hasn’t read. Better, she said, for her mental health.
And right now she’s focused on getting ready for Sunday and whatever the red carpet gods have in store. The best way to catch her segments during the red carpet, which opens around 3:30 p.m. Eastern, is to follow the academy and Oscars social channels, on TikTok, Instagram or YouTube.
“I’m just really excited to be back again for the Oscars,” she said. “It’s kind of amazing to be asked back for a second year. it’s an amazing opportunity to like, go bigger and better than last year. They've let me kind of remain true to what people love about me and my videos. So that’s a real delight.”
___
For more coverage of this year's Oscars, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards