Hosting the Academy Awards may be the toughest gig in show biz. As the telecast's annual ratings decline, talk of a reinvention is on the upswing.
This week academy chiefs showed they're serious about Oscar's new beginning when they asked producer
Laurence Mark and director
Bill Condon to oversee the struggling show.
The announcement sent Hollywood pundits into a tizzy: Who will Mark and Condon choose to host? Will they draw on industry pals? (Mark produced "I, Robot" starring
Will Smith. Condon plans to do a Richard Pryor film that may star
Jamie Foxx.) Or will the academy insist, as always, on
Billy Crystal, Oscar's go-to host?
Add in the buzz surrounding
Ricky Gervais following his
raved-about skit on the Emmys and you've got yourself an interesting batch of contenders.
Take a look at The Envelope's candidates and vote.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
O'Neil's special interest is how the awards affect each other, particularly the top film prizes that can be viewed as one single gold derby with the Oscars as the finish line. Consider what happened to "Chariots of Fire," for example. In 1981, it emerged from obscurity to win awards at the Cannes Film Festival and the National Board of Review, then fell behind "Reds" and "Atlantic City" at the film critics' awards and Golden Globes, then trotted ahead as best-picture champ at the Oscars. Contact O'Neil: GoldDerby@gmail.com.