Steven Spielberg "disagrees" with the Motion Picture Academy's decision to pre-record eight Oscar categories.
The 'West Side Story' director - whose latest movie is nominated for seven awards at the ceremony later this month - has criticised the move, which will see a number of prizes handed out in the hour before the main broadcast on March 27 to keep the event to three hours long.
Speaking to Deadline, Spielberg said: "I disagree with the decision made by the executive committee.
"I feel very strongly that this is perhaps the most collaborative medium in the world. All of us make movies together, we become a family where one craft is just as indispensable as the next.
“I feel that at the Academy Awards there is no above the line, there is no below the line. All of us are on the same line bringing the best of us to tell the best stories we possibly can.
"And that means for me we should all have a seat at the supper table together live at 5.”
The categories set to be featured before the main ceremony are Production Design, Sound, Original Music Score, Film Editing, Makeip and Hairstyling, Animated Short, Live Action Short and Documentary Short.
The 75-year-old filmmaker - who serves on the Academy’s Board of Governors - pointed to the importance of sound and design in films, and how they take movies to the next level.
He explained: "When I look back and I think without John Williams, 'Jaws' would wear dentures. With 'West Side Story', when Tony is singing "Tonight" with Maria, without (Production Designer) Adam Stockhausen he would be singing it on a step-ladder and she would be on the scaffolding, all this on an empty soundstage.
"Without film editing all my movies would still be in dailies. We all come together to make magic, and I am sad that we will all not be on live television watching magic happen together."
