Well, That Was Fast... Billy Crystal To Host the Oscars

Strike while the iron is... short-circuiting? The Brett Ratner (producer) / Eddie Murphy (host) Oscar telecast resignations have been the talk of the town... make that both towns and February's Oscar night was starting to seem like an impending disaster. 

Despite a fun-to-think-about Muppets Oscar campaign*, many AMPAS voters and Oscar fans will get their wish and see the return of Billy Crystal. He's had the gig eight times in the past (1990-1993, 1997-1998, 2000 and  2004) but apparently eight is not enough. Billy is a good host but we just hope this doesn't mean yet more changes to the show. The last time Billy Crystal spoke about hosting he said he'd return only if they made certain (unspecified) changes to the broadcast. (Sigh) The Oscar ceremony is not broke. It just always thinks itself to be. It's like a beautiful girl who looks in the mirror and only sees her flaws. The only "fixing" the ceremony needs is some good old fashioned self-esteem. 

* I was just about to say that we'll still see Muppets on Oscar night, never fear -- I mean they've done the show several times before -- when I saw this tweet.

So now I don't need to. Perhaps this is the best of both worlds! 

"Midnight in Paris" Five Months On...

Oscar in Paris? Five million months after its release I'm hearing "Midnight in Paris" at Oscar shindigs more often than I'm hearing the title of any other movie. Seriously just in the last few weeks I've heard it pop up in virtually every "what movie do you like?" conversation. So I just went and locked it up on the Best Picture chart. (Shoulda done that with the last gold man column.) This seemingly widespread preference -- though I have heard a few "eh, it was okay"s amidst the name checking -- could simply be the fact that everyone has already seen it. You'd be surprised how few of the members have seen the presumed big guns...even things that have screened a lot like The Artist. They really do appear to wait until this time of year to watch movies!

I mentioned its conversational ubiquity on my twitter which prompted some conversation amongst friends. Colin pointed me to this old review at Rules for Anchorites which helped him understand the movie's appeal a little better. That review says lots of things I relate to but it does seem to willfully ignore the point that Woody Allen is not actually endorsing his altar ego's romanticizing of the past in the screenplay. It reminded of something really cynical Woody once said about Hannah and Her Sisters when it became popular. I wish I could find the quote but it was something about how he always felt that if his movies became popular they were popular only because people misunderstood them. To the Midnight naysayers I said that while you can quibble with the execution all you like,  the movie is popular because the conceit is very very strong. I genuinely thought this was a "no duh" controversy-free statement but I was surprised to get immediate dissent. Nick & Joe & Guy all seem really dismissive of even the movie's central conceit which I just unequivocally love. Are my friends just hard-to-please bitches (kidding!) or are they right? I personally wish Midnight were a bit funnier and less jerry-rigged for Owen sympathy -- you'd get a much smarter/stronger movie instantly if you soften the fiancee or remove her entirely -- but I liked it and, again, the core is marvelous.

I'm eager to reassess soon. Do you still think about the movie? Did you like it enough to see it twice?

Eddie Murphy Resigns. Academy Voter Tells Us "Told You!"

True story: I just got back from a luncheon celebrating Martha Marcy May Marlene. I happened to be seated between three Academy members. One woman, a documentary filmmaker, brought up the Brett Ratner scandal and she and I co-miserated, jokingly, that if only he hadn't resigned so quickly there probably would have been much more drama to enjoy since he can't control his mouth. 'Who doesn't love juicy drama?' we argued. The wise producer on the left of me, retorted that the Academy doesn't. "They're very conservative and they don't like a scandal," she said emphatically. (Amusing that even Academy members talk about the Academy in monolithic "they" terms just as we do; as if they, too, are outside of it looking in).

The whole Ratner fiasco had happened so fast (gay slurs on Friday, apologies on Monday but also Howard Stern on Monday with more offensive comments, resignation on Tuesday) that we had to fill one of the other voters at our table in on the details. The discussion quickly turned to last year's telecast which was deemed "unwatchable" ("Franco is spread too thin" "Poor Anne Hathaway -- you could just see the panic.") The producer leans in to me and says "I bet Eddie Murphy resigns". 

CUT TO: 20 minutes later. I've just returned from talking to Lizzy Olsen (more on that tomorrow) and the producer says "Told you." She holds up her phone to show me the Breaking News bulletin: EDDIE MURPHY EXITS AS OSCAR HOST. The holy name of "Billy Crystal" is instantly invoked as if he would save them all. 

Murphy's public statement: 

First and foremost I want to say that I completely understand and support each party's decision with regard to a change of producers for this year's Academy Awards ceremony. I was truly looking forward to being a part of the show that our production team and writers were just starting to develop, but I'm sure that the new production team and host will do an equally great job.

Interesting that he makes it sound like a mutual decision (the implication there is that Rattner was asked to resign, isn't it?).

I know I didn't write about the choice of Eddie Murphy much at the time but I actually thought it somewhat inspired as he is a born showman. No matter what you think of Dreamgirls, can't we all agree that Eddie nailed the performative electricity of James 'Thunder' Early?

Ideally in his absence I'd have Hugh Jackman back since I need musical numbers, I just do. (I realize my dream of Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson hosting and just yanking every other hilarious-in-real-life actress on stage to banter with them as if the Kodak is their mutual playground is only going to happen in my own brain.)

Statler & Waldorf are just like the media. They'll hate it whoever does the hosting!I also heartily endorse the Muppets should host the Oscars campaign though that feels only slightly more likely than Streep & Thompson on account of the Academy being too self-serious to become the greatest episode of The Muppet Show ever made for one night.

A more believeable suggestion...

Wouldn't Jim Carrey be two tons o' fun as a host: what do they have against him anyway? Who would you have host the event and are you sad to see Eddie go?

UPDATE 7:27 PM Brian Grazer (famous producer and Ron Howard partner) has stepped in to replace Brett Ratner as producer of the telecast. Since Brian has always kind of reminded us of a Muppet himself, we are quite pleased. Brian, think hard about those felt bundles of joy. CONSIDER... 

UPDATE 11/10/11: Now it's Billy Crystal as Host.

"L. DiCaprio" Will Do Anything...

"It's time the Academy learned the difference between giving me a nom and giving me a nod!"

L. DiCaprio (J. Edgar Parody) - watch more funny videos

So so funny. Wish I'd made it.

Will Monty "Consider" Bridesmaids?

Some people trust Karger, Stone, Tapley, Feinberg, Poland, myself -- the list goes on -- with their office Oscar pools. Who do I trust for sharp objective Oscar punditry? My cat. How could I not?

You must recall that last year "Monty" sifted through Fox Searchlight screeners and got very opinionated claiming 127 Hours for his own, immediately shoving Conviction away and declaring Never Let Me Go an utter snooze. Oscar Prediction Success: 100%

Naturally I'm seeking his services again in 2011. I tried to show him the Harry Potter "Consider" book but he literally refused to look at it. No amount of cajoling could get him near it for a photo which is strange because he loves books (useful as pillows or face scratchers) way more than movies (useful for nothing unless the DVD accidentally reflects light on the wall ). 

So I moved on. Would he consider Bridesmaids?

 *

Well, he would and he wouldn't... (continue).

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