Billy Crystal Wants to Be Your Oscars Host; Brett Ratner Considers

According to statements he made to a crowd last Friday, Billy Crystal wants to host the Oscars for the ninth time next year, a desire that may or may not be connected to seeing James Franco lumber on stage as a sad, beefy Marilyn Monroe. “They had called and said would you do this thing and honor Bob Hope and that was a kind of cool thing to do,” Crystal said about his cameo at this year’s show. “I said okay. I did it, and people wanted to see me, they stood up, and I couldn’t talk for about a minute [while waiting for the ovation to subside]. And, um, I got a little itchy. So we’ll see what happens. I can’t promise anything.”

While Crystal is already spit-shining his dress spats for his first show since 2004 (“They know where I am,” he explained), Oscars producer Brett Ratner isn’t making any decisions just yet. “I didn’t see what Billy said. I’m really focused on finishing my film Tower Heist right now,” he told Deadline. “[But] I was told by the Academy that I don’t have to make a decision until mid-September.” Whatever they decide, can we please have back the show-stealing holographic kinescope ghost of Bob Hope? The man has crossed over and he was still killing it.

Billy Crystal Wants to Be Your Oscars Host; Brett […]