Tom Holland has reportedly been asked to host the Oscars 2022 awards ceremony. Holland, whose breakthrough role came as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, has most recently been seen in the third film in his Spider-Man trilogy, the box office behemoth and long-awaited Spider-Man: No Way Home. A hit with audiences and critics, the superhero movie has started its campaign to earn No Way Home an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. The British actor, who is carving himself out a space for himself as a leading man in Hollywood action films, following his appearances as Spider-Man and 2021's Chaos Walking, will next be seen in the upcoming adaptation of the popular video game Uncharted as the hero Nathan 'Nate' Drake.
Alongside Spider-Man: No Way Home, others films have kicked off their campaigns for Oscar nominations. The Oscars ceremony itself has undergone several changes over the last few years after increasingly negative reviews about the presenters and format in the recent past. 2021's ceremony, which was held in April rather than February due to the pandemic, reached a nadir in viewing figures, down more than 50% from 2020's ceremony. Comedian Kevin Hart was confirmed to host the 2019 ceremony but stepped down after criticism following homophobic jokes of his resurfaced. That year, the Oscars ceremony went ahead without a host and has remained hostless since.
Now, however, according to THR, the Academy are on the hunt for a host for the 2022 ceremony, and in-demand British actor Holland is in the running. In an article confirming that the upcoming ceremony would have a host, THR reports that the Academy did "reach out to [Holland] to explore that possibility" after the 25-year-old British actor expressed interest in one day hosting the Oscars. It's currently unclear when Holland was contacted by the Academy and whether discussions were positive.
It was late last year that Holland revealed his interest in hosting the Oscarcast in an interview. While the hard-working actor said he would love the "pressure" of hosting, he stated that any potential emceeing would have to be in the future, as his current schedule meant Holland was too busy to host the Oscars. A gymnast and dancer, Holland could bring back the musical numbers not seen since the 2015 ceremony was hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. The actor's youthful enthusiasm may be just the thing the Academy needs to get audiences watching their Oscarcast in big numbers once again. If Holland were to host this year's awards - or the 2023 or 2024 ceremony - he would become the youngest person to emcee the Hollywood film industry's biggest awards ceremony. That distinction currently belongs to Anne Hathaway, who co-hosted the awards in 2011 at the age of 28 with James Franco, who received the lion's share of criticism for the poorly received Oscar ceremony.
With the recent Golden Globes ceremony choosing to forego not only a host but also televising the event, the 2022 Oscars are taking a different route. The event will be televised and the Academy has confirmed that the 2022 Oscars ceremony will have a host for the first time since 2018. Although Holland has said he is too busy to present the awards, it is unclear whether the actor has officially turned down the presenting gig after being contacted by the Academy. Whether Holland's Spider-Man: No Way Home will bag the Best Picture nomination it seeks, and whether Tom Holland will be there to present, remains to be seen. The 94th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday 27 March.
Source: THR