While doing press for his latest comedy, Get Hard, Will Ferrell has recalled the strange pitch he made to present the Oscars in 2012 with Zach Galifianakis, his co-star in The Campaign.
It was a year of upheaval for the organisers of the ceremony: the intended host and producer had been Eddie Murphy and Brett Ratner, but Ratner resigned from the role after he used an offensive gay slur, and Murphy swiftly followed. There was a period of uncertainty about who would replace Murphy as host, and it was during this time that Ferrell had his manager approach the new producer, Brian Grazer, with an idea.
Ferrell has now recalled the pitch in the Huffington Post: “We will host the Oscars, if you do a campaign that you can’t find an Oscars host up until the last second ... The whole premise of our hosting [is] that we were asked at the last second. So we’re always flustered. We don’t know the jokes. We don’t know where the cameras are. We do the entire show as if it’s unrehearsed.”
He went on to explain that while the idea amused the ceremony’s producers, it also presented a major problem: “They said, ‘Ha ha ha, we think it’s so funny, but no, we have to do promos. We said, ‘Why do you have to do additional things?’ We gave them gold and ... they’ve got to be willing to be unconventional.”
In the event, the pair presented the award for best original song, one of the high points of a ceremony hosted by the safer choice of Billy Crystal.
After Neil Patrick Harris revealed that he would be unlikely to return to host next year’s telecast, the search is on for a replacement. This year’s ratings were the worst since 2009 and the reaction to Patrick Harris was lukewarm.
