Rolex Creates a Deep-Sea Experience in This Year’s Oscars Greenroom

The 91st Academy Awards are mere days away, and there’s an air of controlled chaos in the Dolby Theatre as crews ready the space for Hollywood’s biggest night. But step into the Greenroom just opposite the backstage door, and you’re instantly transported to a soothing, undersea world.

For the show’s presenters, performers, and honorees, it’s a retreat away from the glare of the cameras, a place to get a drink and chat with fellow A-listers, all while keeping tabs on the telecast via one of the lounge’s video monitors. This year’s edition is suitably swanky: sea glass-inspired lamps cast a translucent glow onto curving, velvet-covered seating in green, sapphire blue, and gold. Floor-to-ceiling "windows" look out to backlit images of scuba divers and whales navigating the deep, while walnut wall panels laser cut into coral shapes are lit from behind in shimmering blue.

What’s undoubtedly the most star-studded pop-up comes courtesy of show sponsor Rolex, which has overseen the Greenroom’s design since 2016. Each year the Swiss watchmaker comes up with a new theme for the temporary space, and this year, the company’s Geneva–based design team tapped into its longtime commitment to protecting the world’s oceans by envisioning the Greenroom as a kind of luxury submersible.

The effect starts at the door, which is styled as a submarine hatch. Just inside, you’re greeted by an "Oscar" that’s a larger-than-life version of its 13½-inch-tall awards counterpart. (Fun fact: The statuettes that will be handed out on Sunday weigh eight-and-a-half pounds; they’re solid bronze plated in 24-karat gold.)

The Rolex Deepsea Challenge diver’s watch that accompanied filmmaker James Cameron on his 2012 exploration of the Mariana Trench is on display, along with a model of the submersible that made the journey.

Looking appropriately like a klieg light, a Fortuny tripod floor lamp illuminates the far end of the lounge, while bronze-and-ebony overlapping round tables by Minotti lend a glamorous note. Nearby, a large "aquarium" displays handcrafted fish and seaweed trimmed in leather.

When the February 24th telecast concludes and viewers debate whether the first no-host Oscar telecast since 1989 was a hit or a flop, the Greenroom will be dismantled, and its moment in the sun will fade into memory. But Rolex’s design team will already be hard at work on a new theme for next year.

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