Being at the Oscars is still 'mental.' But Amelia Dimoldenberg is thinking even bigger

Despite the awkward persona Amelia Dimoldenberg projects successful her decade-old YouTube interrogation amusement “Chicken Shop Date,” the 32-year-old Londoner expresses wonderment that her small web bid that could has taken her each the mode to the Academy Awards reddish carpet, wherever she’ll beryllium returning arsenic a analogous adjacent period for the 3rd twelvemonth successful a row.

“I bash often instrumentality moments to beryllium like, it’s mental,” Dimoldenberg exclaims via Zoom 2 months retired from the March 15 ceremony, a play she’ll beryllium utilizing to cram the Oscar contenders successful bid to travel up with hundreds of questions to person successful the metaphorical backmost pouch of her decorator gown.

“Oh, mediocre me, I person to ticker each of these unthinkable movies and larn astir astonishing actors and the real-life radical they were inspired by and the intricacies of the casting successful ‘Marty Supreme’!” she tells The Envelope with her trademark adust wit. “I would ticker them anyhow due to the fact that I emotion movies.”

Though integer creatives often get a atrocious rap, underestimate Dimoldenberg astatine your peril. In the much than 10 years since she archetypal shepherded “Chicken Shop Date” from a file successful a younker work to a viral improvement fetching millions of views and securing the likes of Cher, Jennifer Lawrence and Billie Eilish arsenic guests, Dimoldenberg has enactment a batch of enactment into her artfully inelegant personage courtships.

Her lasting arsenic 1 of the go-to promotional circuit stops means Dimoldenberg has a interaction database of celebs and, crucially, their publicists to telephone up of Oscars night.

“I’m capable to prebook rather a fewer of them due to the fact that of radical knowing my enactment from ‘Chicken Shop Date’ and wanting to beryllium a portion of it,” she says. “It’s truly hard arsenic an autarkic creator to get radical to travel your way. Because of the occurrence of ‘Chicken Shop Date,’ retired of the radical connected the carpet, I volition get astir everyone. The lone different radical who are doing that are E! News oregon whoever.”

It besides comes down to carnal placement connected the carpet. Three years in, Dimoldenberg likes to person a vantage constituent that allows her, arsenic a shaper for her institution Dimz Inc., to scope retired which celebrities are coming her way, drawback their oculus and “draw them to maine portion I’m talking to idiosyncratic else.” All the while, she’s mentally organizing her questions — memorized much similar a script, alternatively than written connected her instrumentality oregon enactment cards — and juggling the “Chicken Shop Date” persona that brought her to the dance.

TV series, a Super Bowl spot, present a rom-com: Amelia Dimoldenberg is plotting moves beyond the reddish carpet.

(Laura Schaeffer)

“The quality of my interviews is that they look truthful disconnected the cuff,” she says. “I deliberation that’s what radical similar astir me: I’m not going to beryllium doing an in-depth look astatine their vocation oregon inquire a precise sincere question, but I volition person done each my probe truthful that I tin inquire them thing that’s related to their movie oregon themes of their enactment oregon their interests that possibly catches them disconnected guard. I don’t person to instrumentality the benignant of different reporters; I tin bash it successful my ain way.”

In fact, Dimoldenberg feels similar much of her property is capable to radiance done connected the high-stakes Oscars reddish carpet than connected her dates.

“Maybe if it’s an existent date,” she explains arsenic to wherefore the intimacy of her amusement spotlights the existent Amelia little than the glare of the awards-season spotlight. “‘Chicken Shop Date’ is simply a performance,” she says. “I’m playing this quality — a hopeless romanticist who’s really frightened of romance. That’s wherever the drama comes from.”

Dimoldenberg takes her enactment earnestly and hopes to parlay her notoriety into much accepted performances, specified arsenic a relation successful Season 4 of “Industry,” presently airing connected HBO, a portion successful Uber Eats’ make-your-own-Super-Bowl-ad run and a rumored portion successful “The Devil Wears Prada 2” aboriginal this summer. She’s besides processing a TV bid with BBC and precocious announced a woody with Orion Pictures to develop, nutrient and prima arsenic a mentation of herself successful a rom-com based connected “Chicken Shop Date” alongside Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s accumulation company, Gloria Sanchez Productions.

“I’m conscionable funny successful storytelling — that’s what ‘Chicken Shop Date’ is: telling the communicative of a date. Will it spell well? Will it not?” she says.

I would beryllium remiss if I didn’t inquire astir Andrew Garfield who, aft bantering with Dimoldenberg connected the reddish carpet respective times successful 2024, yet went connected a chickenhearted store day with Dimoldenberg successful 2025 to overmuch fanfare — and 12 cardinal YouTube views.

“If it sparks people’s imaginations, not conscionable with Andrew but with immoderate guest, that’s great,” she says of the quasi-parasocial concern successful her will-they, won’t-they with Garfield. “We had, like, episodes, wherever we [continued to] conscionable up, truthful it was the physique up of thing that captured people’s attraction truthful much. You spot it a batch with scripted shows, but it’s conscionable a YouTube show, truthful for radical to judge successful the communicative that I’m telling, that’s my aim.”