HAMMOND: Murphy Exit Throws Oscars Into Further Chaos

OSCARS: Eddie Murphy Pulls Out As Host HAMMOND: Oscars Post-Ratner What Now? An email I got this morning from a longtime Academy member said, “Brett’s a brat … but really!!! Next one to go would be Eddie. … No loss.” Well Academy member, you got your wish. In this swiftly moving story, host Eddie Murphy has followed Brett Ratner out the door of this year’s Oscars. I wrote earlier that I would be surprised if he did this, thinking his professionalism would trump any perceived loyalty to Ratner, who directed him in Tower Heist and tapped him for his first hosting gig on the Oscars. Apparently not. We can now add this to the ever-growing list of unfortunate incidents in Murphy’s checkered history with Oscar. He made waves when he presented Best Picture in 1988 saying he almost turned down the invite to do it and then chastized the Academy for their poor track record in nominating African Americans. In 2007, he bolted from the Kodak quickly after losing Best Supporting Actor for Dreamgirls to Alan Arkin, giving the impression, whether true or not, of being a spoiled sport. And now he’s left the Kodak again before even setting foot in it, this time and leaving the Academy in a lurch. Eddie made a round of talk-show appearances in the last two weeks telling every host how he was genuinely looking forward to doing the show — but apparently not without Ratner at the helm. I’m not sure he was fully aware of what he was expected to do, but he told reporters recently he “was not nervous,” On one show he was asked about doing a monologue but downplayed it, indicating he would do his style of comedy, maybe a couple of sketch-type things. I have the feeling Ratner was really hand-holding Eddie through this, and with him gone, the star’s confidence level also took a powder. Perhaps the reality of being adrift in the gig just wasn’t a career move Eddie wanted to make right now, particularly with his film Tower Heist — which represents a comeback of the “old Eddie” audiences once loved — underperforming at the box office against expectations and embarrassingly trounced by the second weekend of Puss In Boots. It’s a fact that the combination of a hit movie with Eddie back in form and the Oscar-hosting gig would have put his career back on course to the top. Now you can throw that “win-win” scenario out the window. It’s probably an understatement to say events this week have not resulted in the kind of career infusion Murphy and his handlers were hoping for. This is turning into complete chaos now for the normally cool-as-a-cucumber Academy. It’s like the whole show is publicly imploding, so it really needs to act very fast in getting a new producer to join Don Mischer and then a host. The producer chooses the host. The problem is the Ratner exit was big news in the industry but not to the public at large who loyally tune in to the Oscars to see their stars. Murphy’s exit is more troubling. His departure is big news and really put a face on this story that will get major attention. It’s not the kind of attention the Academy wants, however, which was clearly evident by the terse nature of Academy president Tom Sherak’s official statement this morning: “I appreciate how Eddie feels about losing his creative partner, Brett Ratner, and we all wish him well.” Right. The Academy, its board, new CEO Dawn Hudson and Sherak are facing a crisis they certainly don’t need at this time, and now just two weeks before Thanksgiving they are virtually back to square one. As I pointed out in my previous piece, the sudden death last week of 14-time show producer Gil Cates is really being felt now. He’s the one person who could have come in, immediately righted the ship, called Billy Crystal (he gave Crystal his first hosting shot of eight, on the 1990 show) and gotten this whole ugly incident out of the headlines quickly. He had the relationships and diplomacy to do that. Now come the bigger questions of who will want to come in as producer in this highly pressured situation and even more pressingly who will want to come in as host, a perceived second choice to Eddie Murphy? Would this be the way Crystal would want to come and host the show again, even as he has clearly indicated before the choice of Murphy that he would have been up for doing it. Even though the February 26 Oscarcast is still 3 1/2 months away, one person with intimate knowledge of how production schedules and Oscar shows work tells me this morning, “It’s a s*** show right now. They are incredibly behind.” To use the word “scrambling” might be an understatement. Suggestions for the Academy to get out of this mess, anyone? I am sure they are listening right now.