Fan Fare

Call it Oscar’s equivalent of hiring a really good Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon to nip a wrinkle here and tuck a chin there.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Monday said four of today’s hottest young actors and actresses — Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Miley Cyrus and Zac Efron — will be presenters at this year’s ceremony for the world’s top film honors on March 7.

The Oscars have long been the arena of mostly veteran actors and actresses, and that is one reason — albeit not the only reason — the telecast is considered by some to be out-of-touch with mainstream moviegoers who tend to be mostly young. We aren’t so sure that piece of conventional Hollywood wisdom is true, but we do know that when box office hits like  the “Lord of the Rings” movies get a lot of nominations, more people tune in to the telecast than when low-budget dramas such as “No Country for Old Men” walk off with the best movie prize. We also know that “Lord of the Rings” was aimed mostly at young audiences and “No Country” at adults.

So, very likely in an effort to spur young audiences to tune-in, Oscar organizers have signed up the foursome to present. All good, but we’d offer that maybe they didn’t have to. Action adventure “Avatar,” the biggest box office hit of all time, is among the most-nominated films and it, too, was targeted mostly at young audiences.