Washington [US], March 2 : Actor Harrison Ford, who was scheduled as one of the presenters at the 97th Oscars, has backed out of presenting due to his recent shingles diagnosis.
The 82-year-old actor is doing fine and taking rest after the diagnosis. Shingles is a "viral infection that causes a painful rash," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Ford attended the Captain America: Brave New World and the Western drama television series '1923' season two in Los Angeles earlier this month.
On the 1923 red carpet, he shared why he enjoyed working on the Western show: "I love the viscerality of it, I love the physical nature of the storytelling, I love being in natural circumstances, he said. "[It's] a kind of old-fashioned movie-making mostly, no CGI or very little CGI -- a little something to sweeten the location. But it's really essential, old-time storytelling and I love working with this kind of material," as per the outlet.
The presenters for the prestigious award ceremony are Academy Award winners Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer), Emma Stone (Poor Things), (La La Land), Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) and Da'Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
This year's confirmed presenters include Oprah Winfrey, Selena Gomez, Ben Stiller, Sterling K. Brown, Willem Dafoe, Goldie Hawn, Joe Alwyn, Ana de Armas, Connie Nielsen and Lily-Rose Depp.
The Oscars is hosted by Conan O'Brien, and takes place at the Dolby Theatre. The ceremony airs live on ABC and is available for streaming on Hulu on March 2, according to The Hollywood Reporter.