The newest members of the film academy will cast their first Oscar ballots this season, but the choice for Oscar host — usually decided in October — will be strictly up to Oscar brass.
Yet that didn’t stop a few of the new recruits from chiming in on the process at a private welcome reception held earlier this week by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
“Oh, my God!” said Oscar nominated screenwriter Phyllis Nagy at the prospect of picking an Academy Awards host. “Well, I understand they don’t want to do it, but Tina Fey and Amy Poehler: They should be Oscar hosts.”
Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman didn’t hesitate to share his choice: Kevin Hart.
“I think he wants to do it,” Boseman said. “Why not Kevin Hart?”
Visual effects artist Kevin Baillie had a more unconventional suggestion.
“I know this is going to sound kind of crazy, but I actually think J.J. Abrams would do an amazing job at hosting the Oscars,” he said. “He is funny, he’s smart as a tack and he’s really embedded in the industry. He’s not an actor. He’s not a comedian. But man he would do a good job.”
Actress Rita Wilson, who joined the academy this year after decades in the business, has a special actor in mind for the job.
“Well, I would nominate my husband,” she said of her hubby and fellow academy member, Tom Hanks. “I think he’d be really good. But I’m biased.”
