Notoriously crude, boorish director Bret Ratner (creator of cinematic masterpieces like "Rush Hour 3") made a complete ass out of himself at the premier of his new under-performing flick "Tower Heist" by commenting in a Q&A that "Rehearsals are for fags." This happened the same week as Ratner talked sleazily about sleeping with actress Olivia Munn on the "Howard Stern Show," only to admit a few days later that he lied about it all.
The man stepped down from (i.e. was fired from) his position as director of next year's Academy Awards Ceremony. In solidarity, his collaborator Eddie Murphy also stepped down as host. The Academy has already made the exceedingly boring decision to play it safe after last year's James Franco and Anne Hathaway hosting disaster and appoint veteran host and guy-no-one-under-the-age-of-sixteen-knows, Billy Crystal.
Hopefully, next year the Academy will have the guts to try something different. To help them along, I've got my own suggestions for potential hosts whom I think could deliver much more interesting material than the inevitable Billy-Crystal-inserts-himself-into-this-year's-movies montage that's we'll surely be groaning to next year.
Kristin Wiig
With six seasons of "Saturday Night Live" under her belt, several of them spent as the central female cast member no less, Wiig clearly has the live-performance chops necessary to helm a production like the Academy Awards. Now that Tina Fey has been taking steps into the background to concentrate on her family life, Kristin Wiig has undoubtedly usurped her throne as female comedian of the moment in the public consciousness.
She killed it this summer, writing and starring in "Bridesmaids," a movie that proved all-female-cast raunchy comedies could, and should, exist. And, while her humor may be a bit off-beat for the giant international audience of the Oscars, I'd still relish the chance to see what she could do with the job.
Steve Carell & Ryan Gosling
He may have left "The Office" to flounder in his wake, but Steve Carell did so to move onto bigger and better things-namely, movies. And this year the dynamic duo of Carell and Gosling demonstrated that there's still some real life left in the rom-com genre with their unfortunately-named flick "Crazy Stupid Love."
If the Academy wanted to stick with it's dual-host trend of recent years, Ryan Gosling wouldn't be a bad matchup for Carell, given that the chemistry between them makes "Crazy Stupid Love" work. Gosling would make a fitting straight man to Carell's goofy-but-lovable stage persona. And after all, with two potential acting nominations in the works for Gosling for his roles in "Drive" and "Ides of March," and likely at least one Best Picture nomination as well, 2011 is the year of Gosling. And something tells me Gosling wouldn't show up nearly as stoned as James Franco.
Stephen Colbert & Jon Stewart
The Daily Show host Jon Stewart was great in his two performances as Oscar Night MC, but I'd be far more intrigued to see what his spin-off pseudo-nemesis Stephen Colbert could do with the podium. His astoundingly witty yet bordering-on-absurd brand of comedy would bring a fresh vibe to the Oscars, exactly what they should be looking for in the aftermath of last year's youthful-reboot-gone-awry production and continually falling viewer ratings.
If the Academy really felt the need to assure the ceremony remains tethered to reality, they could offer Colbert and Stewart as another hosting pair. After all, their "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" last year reminded us just how effective the duo can be when reunited. For a taste of the grand comedic potential of just such a pairing, I suggest you check out the clips of Stewart and Colbert presenting together at the Emmys in 2007 and 2008.
Justin Timberlake
Last, but certainly not least, Justin Timberlake. No list of potential hosts would be complete without the original jack-of-all-trades himself. His numerous legendary stints hosting "SNL"-each of which inevitably spawns a new viral video with the Lonely Island crew-as well as other award shows like the MTV Movie Awards and the ESPY Awards, provide Timberlake with quite the resume of impressive hosting experience.
His inevitable song-and-dance number would surely have no trouble competing with the obligatory Billy Crystal medleys that have become an Oscar staple. And he would be able to do it while injecting the telecast with a new youthful atmosphere like the Academy seemed so bent on achieving last year-certainly more so then Crystal possibly can. Justin Timberlake is undoubtedly a great natural-born entertainer. If anyone can bring the Oscars back to their former glory, it's certainly the man who brought sexy back.
Send all questions and comments David's way at dcottrell@wisc.edu.
