Life moves pretty fast. Earlier Tuesday, it was reported, with no shortage of amusement, that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was having a hell of a time finding a host for their 2019 Oscars. (The internet helpfully offered some suggestions.) But as of Tuesday night, there was already a potential sucker winner of the Oscars lottery: According to Deadline, Kevin Hart is officially taking the job no one in the world seemed to want.
The comic and movie star broke the news on Instagram. “For years I have been asked if I would ever host the Oscars and my answer was always the same…I said that it would be the opportunity of a lifetime for me as a comedian and that it will happen when it’s suppose to,” Hart wrote. “I am so happy to say that the day has finally come for me to host the Oscars.”
Hart’s announcement is definitely cutting things close. The ceremony, which earlier this year was held in early March, had for next year been pushed back to late February — the 24th, to be exact. That means should the comic and movie star say OK to the job he’s allegedly been offered, he’ll have to move quick — or just mostly fall back on ad-libbing, at which he already excels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTRsJ0zVy4k
Hart will also preside over a ceremony where he may very well be snubbed. He’s about to make his serio-comic acting debut in this season’s The Upside, the Hollywood remake of The Intouchables, aka the second most popular French film of all time — a movie that made a fortune in pretty much every country except for America.
In the comedy-drama, which goes wide in January, Hart plays the new caretaker to a grouchy man (Bryan Cranston) who’s paralyzed from the neck down. So far there’s only been low-level and purely theoretical Oscar talk — no one has seen the movie yet — but one can dream for there to suddenly be an Oscar host who’s also up for an Oscar trophy.
(Via Deadline)
