Yesterday, ShockYa reported that Jennifer Hudson and Justin Timberlake were going to present at the Oscars this year.  MTV News has released news that Scarlett Johansson, Russell Brand, Sandra Bullock, Oprah Winfrey and Jeff Bridges will also have presenting duties at the awards show.

Other actors and actresses expected to present are Robert Downey, Jr., Hugh Jackman, Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Reese Witherspoon, Cate Blanchett, Marisa Tomei, Nicole Kidman and Annette Bening.

You’ll notice that quite a few of the presenters are Oscar winners, but what is also prominent are performers who are becoming more prominent in the world of acting. Russell Brand and Justin Timberlake are two actors who are slowly gaining more gravitas in roles; Brand starred recently in “The Tempest” and is in the upcoming film “Arthur” with Helen Mirren, and Timberlake was in the Best Picture-nominated film “The Social Network”, a role many feel went unrecognized by the Academy.

It would seem that with the group of presenters, along with the two young Oscar hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway, that the Academy may be trying to paint a fresher, more contemporary, yet still mature version of the awards show. If this is how the Academy is thinking, hopefully the strategy will work for them.

The Oscars will be on ABC at 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST.

Scarlett Johansson