14 DAY TRIAL // The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is in the clear for the Oscars 2012. After the quick resignation of producer Brett Ratner and Eddie Murphy's surprising exit yesterday, a new host has been found in the person of Billy Crystal.
Ratner was forced to drop out of producing the Oscarcast after he got himself into troubled waters with a series of comments that even included a gay slur.
One day later, Murphy announced he would no longer be hosting without his creative partner Ratner, so he left too, leaving the Academy stranded with just 3 months before the awards show.
Luckily, there's always Billy Crystal. This will be his ninth hosting gig of the Oscars, as the Los Angeles Times points out.
Word of this got out on Twitter, where Crystal wrote what seemed to be a joke about why he wanted to host the Academy Awards again.
“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,” he wrote, as per the aforementioned publication.
His tweet was picked up and retweeted by the Academy, and was then followed by an official announcement.
“Bringing Billy back home is a good thing. He's funny. He's a comic by trade and he's an iconic Oscar host,” Academy President Tom Sherak says.
“It happened today after [Grazer and Mischer did a round of press] calls, Billy's people called and said he'll do it if we want him… We called ABC and we're doing it,” Sherak adds of how Crystal came to be considered.
In the end, it's a good thing Billy showed himself open to the idea of hosting the Oscars once more, because he's done it so many times he's literally got it down to the letter.
“Don and I both feel that comedy is the common denominator. We really want a host who's gonna have a sense of humor and who is interested in pleasing the audience,” Brian Grazer, who took over from Ratner as producer, says.
“They're almost in a way being a civil servant to the academy and to the spectators. We're trying to make the audience happy. We want to provide to them a great, great, time,” Grazer promises.