Draft Kermit campaign for new Oscar host
Mr. Crystal lit up the blogosphere late Thursday afternoon by posting a message to Twitter: “Am doing the Oscars so the young woman in the pharmacy will stop asking my name when I pick up my prescriptions. Looking forward to the show.”
A spokeswoman for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed that Mr. Crystal wasn’t joking.
Mr. Murphy backed out of hosting the ceremony on Wednesday after the resignation of his friend Brett Ratner as a producer. This will be Mr. Crystal’s ninth appearance as the Oscar front man.
The naming of Mr. Crystal completed a rapid turnaround for the academy, which on Wednesday selected Brian Grazer, a well regarded film producer, to replace Mr. Ratner as co-producer of the telecast. The departures of Mr. Ratner and Mr. Murphy represented an embarrassing collapse in the planning for the ceremony; by swiftly naming replacements, the academy has a chance not only to keep the production on schedule but also to protect the stature of its signature event, one that takes in roughly $80 million each year.
Mr. Crystal represents a return to a formula that worked well for the Academy a decade ago, when masters of live comedy – Whoopi Goldberg and Steve Martin among them – kept the crowd laughing with carefully calibrated barbs. During his previous hosting stints, Mr. Crystal became known for appearing in skits derived from the nominated pictures, appearing, for instance, in Hannibal Lecter’s face mask from “The Silence of the Lambs.”
Last year, the academy, whose 6,000-person membership skews heavily toward people over 50, tried to bridge its gap with younger viewers by hiring two youthful stars, James Franco and Anne Hathaway, as its hosts. The show fell flat and ratings sagged. But one standout was Mr. Crystal, who was greeted with a standing ovation when he presented a tone-perfect tribute to Bob Hope and in many ways stole the show from Mr. Franco and Ms. Hathaway.
Afterward, Mr. Crystal told reporters that he would be open to hosting again, but added a condition. “It has to sort of freshen itself up,” he said, “and if I can be part of that, that would be great.”
Source: nytimes
