It goes without saying that Oscars are largely considered the most prestigious awards ceremony in the film industry, and the highest honour a film and all the people involved in making it happen can receive.
Earlier this year, we were to have Eddie Murphy play our host for the evening, with Brett Ratner producing the night. But of course that wasn’t to be, and after Ratner and Murphy stepped out of the limelight late last year, the great Brian Grazer came on board as producer in Ratner’s place, choosing Billy Crystal to go front and centre back in February.
The LA Times are now reporting that we could be having another comedian hosting next year’s ceremonies, with Jimmy Fallon said to be in talks for the emcee role, with long-time Saturday Night Live producer/writer Lorne Michaels producing the awards.
ABC, who air the Oscars in the US, are thought to have raised objections about Fallon, best known as host of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC, given that he’s from one of ABC’s main rival networks, and competes with Jimmy Kimmel on ABC.
Officially, the network doesn’t have any veto authority to rule Fallon out of the proceedings, and it is the Academy president – the newly-elected Hawk Koch – whose job it tends to be to find a producer for the show, who in turn usually selects the host. Koch said earlier in the week that his first order of business will be to find the producer, and that comedy is a priority.
Lorne Michaels, winner of 13 Emmys, has an incredible list of comedy credits in an impressively long career, working for decades on Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Wayne’s World and Wayne’s World 2, and more recently 30 Rock, Mean Girls, and Fallon’s own Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. With such a long list of proven success, Michaels definitely sounds like a strong contender.
Fallon himself played host at the Emmys two years ago, and was received very positively in his role, so could certainly be a great choice for the ceremony next year. For the moment, the Academy’s spokeswoman has denied that talks with Fallon and Michaels are taking place, so this remains unofficial, but the LA Times are of course a reputable source, and we’re looking forward to seeing how things progress in the coming weeks and months.
The nominations for the 85th Academy Awards will be announced on 15th January, with the ceremony itself taking place on the last Sunday of the following month, 24th February, 2013. More as we get it. And in case you’re not familiar with the comedian, you can catch up on all his latest episodes over on his site here. Enjoy.
