In Contention

Tag: 84th annual Academy Awards

  • Jon Stewart on Eddie Murphy as Oscar host

    I have to be honest and admit that sometimes I forget that Jon Stewart hosted the Oscars. Part of that is because the host is just so rarely memorable (everything that’s not novel starts to become a blur). And Stewart’s done it TWICE, mind. The first time (2006 ceremony), his dry “Daily Show” writers failed to hit the mark (though, now that I think about it, I was in the aisles over that Wylie Stateman bit). The second time, two years later, went over better but he had obviously dialed some things down.

    Still, anyone who has hosted the Oscars twice is a go-to guy for advice any day of the week. It’s a demanding gig, not for the faint of heart. And if you do it twice, well, you’re probably a little crazy, but you also clearly love the showmanship of it all. Billy Crystal is generally associated with the job (he’s done it eight times and almost made it a ninth this year). But Bob Hope is of course the real king, having taken the stage on 18 occasions in his time.

    So the news that Eddie Murphy was tapped as this year’s Oscarcast host is naturally a hot topic to cover with prior emcees. And over at Rolling Stone, Eric Bates has done just that, probing Stewart for his thoughts.

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  • 9/7 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Summit’s ‘Better Life’ first screener with a chance, ‘Contagion’ peeps, Murphy reactions

    • Pete Hammond reports that Summit’s “A Better Life” is the first screener to go out “from a movie that has any chance in hell of getting a nomination.” [Deadline]

    • Bryan Alexander talks to the principals of Steven Soderbergh’s “Contagion.” [USA Today]

    And naturally, everyone has something to say about Eddie Murphy…

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  • A NSFW night at the Oscars

    In honor of today’s news, my favorite bit from “Raw”:

  • (UPDATED with AMPAS press release) Eddie Murphy set to host the 84th annual Academy Awards, official announcement to come

    The possibility of Eddie Murphy hosting the Oscars this year first started swirling over the weekend while I was up at the Telluride Film Festival. It was interesting to note that, of the various press and industry people I spoke to about the possibility, most were somewhat positive on the prospect. And the more I thought about it, the more I was strangely okay with it, too. And now, according to Deadline, the press release is imminent.

    Murphy’s career has obviously been little more than a cash-grab for quite a while now. Save 2006’s “Dreamgirls,” which brought him within arm’s reach of an Oscar win, he has stayed in the frame of schlock comedy and crowd-pleasing shenanigans. But one thing is rather clear: he’s still very much the showman he always was, and with a newly developed relationship with Oscarcast producer Brett Ratner (who recently directed Murphy in “Tower Heist”), it seems a stint hosting the Oscars could work.

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  • 9/6 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Nolte on ‘Warrior,’ southern perspective on ‘The Help,’ Oscar plays out of Telluride

    • Nick Nolte talks “Warrior.” [Making Of]

    • A little southern perspective on “The Help.” [Los Angeles Times]

    • Greg Wellwood considers who got an Oscar boost at Telluride and who didn’t. [Awards Campaign]

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  • 9/5 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Murphy upside, ‘The Help’ abroad, comparing two ‘Straw Dogs’

    • S.T. VanAirsdale looks for the upside in Eddie Murphy potentially hosting the Oscars. [Movieline]

    • Nicole Sperling writes up Tilda Swinton’s tribute track at Telluride and Toronto. [24 Frames]

    • Emma Stone and Viola Davis talk about “The Help”‘s appeal abroad. [The Hollywood Reporter]

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  • Eddie Murphy in talks to host the 84th annual Oscars

    Ratner strikes, it appears. Nikki Finke has the scoop at Deadline:

    This Tuesday, a confab is scheduled for Oscar producer Brett Ratner to tell the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences whom he wants to host the Oscars. I’ve learned that Ratner will offer one name to Academy President Tom Sherak: Eddie Murphy. This is by no means a done deal yet, but this is a first step – though a lot more steps have to happen before this becomes a reality.

    Reportedly the actor is “showing interest,” but what do you think? Would this be a good fit or a distasteful “Tower Heist” commercial?

    [Photo: The Guardian]

  • 8/29 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: ‘Help’ detractors racist?, Stoll on Hemingway, ‘Dangerous Method’ buzz

    Welcome to the new season…

    • “‘The Help’ isn’t racist. It’s critics are.” [The New Republic]

    • Pete Hammond takes note of indies looking to make Oscar plays this year. [Deadline]

    • Steve Pond talks to “Midnight in Paris” star Corey Stoll. [The Odds]

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  • Gervais invited to repeat at Globes — but what about Oscars?

    Obviously it’s too early to be concerned about who’s hosting next year’s Golden Globe ceremony. The day before next year’s Golden Globes ceremony would to be concerned about that. But the pre-weekend news that Ricky Gervais has been invited (if not confirmed) to emcee the show, in his typically irreverent manner, for a third straight year is more interesting for a disputed side note: his claim that the Academy requested his services too.

    Gervais is currently playing coy about his offer from the Hollywood Foreign Press — claiming that he’s considering it, but is wary of outstaying his welcome — though I have a hunch he’ll end up accepting. He’s more adamant about refusing the Oscars gig, dismissing it as “a thankless task for a comedian.”

    Oscars broadcaster ABC, however, denies that the Academy ever approached Gervais in the first place. Take whoever’s word you find more fun to believe.

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  • Brett Ratner and Don Mischer announced as Oscarcast producers

    Is this the day the earth stood still? Eesh. Via AMPAS release:

    Brett Ratner and Don Mischer will produce the 84th Academy Awards telecast, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak announced today. This will be Ratner’s first involvement with the Oscar show; Mischer will for the second year in a row serve as a producer and as the telecast director.

    “I was so impressed with Brett when I met with him to discuss the Oscar show,” said Sherak. “He has an incredible love of film and its history and is a true student of the business of movies. He’s unbelievably creative and knows how to take risks that are both interesting and inspiring. Together with Don Mischer – who, by the way, just earned an Emmy nomination for his work on the 83rd Academy Awards – I think these two will give us a fantastic Oscar show that you won’t want to miss.”

  • Oprah tops AMPAS wish list for Oscarcast host(ess)?

    UPDATE (6:40pm): Naturally, the Academy denies all this. Why would they confirm even if it was true? Why kill the suspense now? Anyway…

    EARLIER: Sasha Stone Twirected (get it? Tweet + directed?) me to a Chicago Sun-Times story that says Oprah Winfrey, fresh off her final daytime talk show stint, could be at the top of the Academy’s list of proposed hosts for the 84th annual Academy Awards. And, naturally, it would be a mutually beneficial kind of thing. Writes Bill Zwecker:

    If the widely seen gig is accompanied by a behind-the-scenes special and a post-Oscars show airing only on the Oprah Winfrey Network, it would give the struggling cable channel some added exposure. But I’m hearing that is a very separate potential deal.

    Furthermore, Zwecker says the feeling is that Winfrey would greatly expand the audience potential for the show, a continuous issue of debate and consideration behind the scenes.

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  • On the Academy’s other rule changes

    With the big news out of the way, there are a few other annual house-cleaning rule alterations that ought to be addressed.

    First up, the Best Animated Feature Film category — which seems to get a face-lift in the rule book every summer — will now have anywhere from three to five nominees. As it was, in a year with 16 qualifying titles, five nominees would be selected. Less than the magic number 16 would yield just three nominees. Now, if 13 to 15 films qualify, four of them will be nominated by the branch. Under that, I’m assuming it’s just three as always.

    VERDICT: I’m okay with this, I suppose, but the qualifying numbers still feel quite arbitrary. Still, this keep quality-heavy films that happen to be quantity-thin for animated output from being slighted.

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  • AMPAS shakes up the Best Picture scenario

    The Academy has added a new twist to the Best Picture category, which was shaken up two years ago with the expansion of the field from five to 10 nominees. According to a late-breaking press release Monday, the organization has elected the field to include anywhere from five to 10 nominees, depending upon what percentage of number one votes contenders receive during the ballot-counting process.

    Think of it as kinda/sorta like the Best Original Song category, which can have anywhere from two to five nominees, but in order to place, a hopeful must first land a certain “score” from the branch. In this instance, the “score” would be the percentage of number one votes received by a given film, with 5% being the minimum. Assuming they hold onto the rule, we could have different years with different numbers of Best Picture nominees, etc.

    It’s interesting because the race could shake out predictably — given that a handful of films are agreed upon leading up to the nominations announcement, with one or two already conceded as barely making the cut — or it could be ignited even more with a dash to squeeze into that top percentile. Who knows? But I’m a BIG fan of this measure. It seems like a happy medium between the exclusivity of five nominations and the perceived diminishing of the honor of 10. And maybe even a bit more dialed in. Not to mention, the resulting number of nominees could be a nice representation of the Academy’s stance on an overall year of film. Nicely done.

    Full press release follows…

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