Director Judd Apatow has declared fellow comedians Steve Martin and Martin Short as his choices to host the 2022 Academy Awards. Apatow is best known for his work as the director of hit comedies such as Knocked Up, Trainwreck, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. His latest film, The Bubble, which features an all-star cast including Karen Gillan, Pedro Pascal and Keegan-Michael Key, is set to be released later this year.
In 2019, following Kevin Hart's stepping down from the role after some of his homophobic tweets had resurfaced online, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences made the unexpected decision to have the Oscars host-less for the first time since 1989. This was an arrangement that the Academy continued to employ for its successive two ceremonies, and it was confidently assumed by many that a similar schedule would be on the cards for the 2022 show as well. However, the Academy recently scuppered those assumptions with the surprise announcement that, in fact, the Oscars will have a host this year.
As can only be expected, the news has opened the flood gates to eager speculation as to who will be claiming the spotlight and composing the traditional industry-related roasts. But given the prestige generally awarded to the ceremony as the final word on excellence in film, much of said speculation can come from big screen stars as well as casual cinema lovers. Now, declaring his nominations on Twitter, Apatow says that he wants comedy legends Martin and Short to host the 94th Academy Awards.
Click to see the original post here
The iconic comedy-duo most recently teamed-up for the Hulu comedy-mystery series Only Murders in the Building, co-created by Martin. The pair have also appeared together in a multitude of other previous ventures including The Prince of Egypt, Father of the Bride, and their Netflix special An Evening You Will Forget For The Rest of Your Life. When it comes to the Oscars, however, Martin is no stranger to presenting the illustrious show, having hosted solo in 2001 and 2003 before sharing the duties with Alec Baldwin in 2010. He even appeared in the 2020 ceremony to perform the opening comedy dialogue alongside Chris Rock, closing with, "We've had a great time not hosting tonight."
With their long history as a beloved comedy-pairing, it would certainly seem well-advised for the Academy to hire Short and Martin to reintroduce the role of Oscar host(s). Indeed, given Martin's own successful track-record presenting the awards show, it would unquestionably be a safe choice for the organisation. And as Apatow adroitly points out, audiences will be in need of a good laugh given the ongoing grief the pandemic has been bringing to the industry; something that Short and Martin can be easily relied upon to deliver. However, although Apatow has made his case for Oscar hosts, the conversation is far from over. Spider-Man star Tom Holland is keen to host the Oscars himself, and with just over two months to go until the golden statues are handed out, there's still plenty of time for other candidates to put themselves forward. Regardless, it may ultimately prove impossible to predict who will be hosting the 2022 Oscars as, having had no hosts for the past three years, its clear that the Academy are not above taking risks when it comes to the format of its ceremony.
Source: Judd Apatow/Twitter