Let's Get Ready to Genie!

William "the Shat" Shatner hosts Canada's film gala tonight.

Tonight the Genie Awards will be held in Ottawa. Here is an extremely rough guide to the proceedings.

The ceremony is being hosted by William Shatner, who’s the subject of a slew of profiles in the press today. As Sarah Barmak writes in the Toronto Star, Cpt. Kirk “has seemed able to effortlessly reinvent himself over and over again on the world stage, while retaining an undeniable Canadianness that is catnip to fans in his native country.” Very true. Some of the more memorable incarnations he has taken over the years include hilarious Elton John impersonator, hilarious Bob Dylan impersonator, author of a series of science fiction books about a mind-altering drug called “tek,” and the embodiment of a popular Twitter feed. He is nearly 80-years old and his nickname is “the Shat,” which is pretty rad.

If you have any doubts that Shatner is still funny just read this interview in the Vancouver Sun. Apparently the Genie producers wouldn’t let him sing this year, which is a shame. He told the Globe and Mail the show’s producers are attempting to avoid the mistakes made by Anne Hathaway and James Franco, the much-maligned hosts of this year’s Oscars. “They tried the very young. Now they're trying the very old,” he said.

Also in the Globe is a neat little graphic about how the Genies and the Geminis stack up. Unfortunately it does not include a stat about how many Canadians know the difference between the two. (Genies are for movies, and Geminis are for television.)

As for the actual movies nominated, several of them were quite successful, if by successful you mean somebody in the U.S. has heard of them. Up for best picture are Barney’s Version and Incendies, both of which were nominated for Oscars and received positive critical response. Also nominated for best picture is Splice, the sci-fi love story starring Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody.

The show starts at 8 pm and make sure not to tune in late. After two years of not being televised at all, the Genies this year will only last an hour.