Hammond: Oscars Post-Ratner What Now?

The Brett Ratner situation is a sad mess all around. Sad for Ratner, sad for the Oscar show which he was to co-produce, and sad for the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. The Academy in the past has weathered its share of nightmares surrounding the show. But never something quite like this.In 1967 an AFTRA strike nearly KO’d the telecast until the walkout was settled just 3 hours before showtime. Similarly a WGA strike in 2008 was threateninguntil it was settled a few days before the airdate. In 1968 the show was nearly cancelled after Martin Luther King’s assasination butpostponed for two days instead. In 1981, the Oscars was delayed a day after President Reagan was shot. As for participants, actors have refused to accept the statuette for a myriad reasons, and winners have gone to political extremes in their speeches, but the Ratner situation is a new one for the AMPAS. Ratner was an unorthodox choice to produce the Oscars, but he was paired with veteran Don Mischer who did the show last year with Bruce Cohen. Mischer also has vast experience, producing the Olympic Opening Ceremonies and the Emmys andPresidential inaugurations. Since Gil Catessoloed in 2008, the Academy has brought on producing duosincluding Bill Condon and Larry Mark in 2009, then Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic in 2010. The Academy likely willlook to replace Ratner with someone who can hit the ground running. Butfinding an available and experienced producerwon’t be easy onsuch short notice. It’s hard enough findingthe right producer in the best of circumstances, not the worst of circumstances like this is. Of course the Academy could just let Mischer handle the show on his own as he has done countless times and won countless Emmys for his efforts. But last year’s show was not critically well-received particularly for its choice of hosts, Anne Hathaway and James Franco and Mischer is also the director and that takes a lot of prep away from producing chores. Of course the natural choice would have been to turn to the unflappableman that produced a record 14 Oscarcasts, Gil Cates but his sudden death last week provides new irony and yet another reason why he will be so missed. Another two-time producer of the show who could quickly step in , Laura Ziskin , also died this year. Academy President Tom Sherak could turn to his friend and former business colleague Joe Roth who has experience since he producedthe show a few years ago, or they could look outside the usual suspects. No matter what happens Mischer will be the glue that holds it all together. I got the opportunity to work with him last year when I wrote the Governors Awards show and he is simply the best at what he does. No worries. The mechanics of the Oscars will still be in good hands. The staffing of the show was well under way and Ratner was shaking things up, even changing talent bookersand hiring Melissa Watkins Trueblood over 38 year Oscar booking veteran Danette Herman who is now just a consultant. The writing staff is also all new and since many of them are Ratner cronies they aren’t likely to stay on board. That’s not a huge problem since the Academy hasn’t officially announced the team yet, but that may be good news for Bruce Vilanche who didn’t appear to be one of them but now could get a reprieve as Oscar showexperience of any kindwould be a big plus. Host Eddie Murphy also has his writers attached and they will stay — IF Eddie stays. Murphy, a co-star of Tower Heist, has been on many talk shows lately saying how he is looking forward to hosting the Oscars and also giving props to Ratner who talked him into the gig. There is some media speculation that now that Ratner is gone , Eddie will also take a walk. I see that as highly unlikely and I also don’t think Ratner himself would let that happen. Ratner’s exit caused a big ripple in the industry where he is well known but Murphy’s exit would be a high profile PR nightmare creating a scenario where the show looks like it has been thrown into completechaos, at least to the general public who may not know Ratner but definitely know Eddie. Murphy’s no dummy. Just like Brad Pitt stayed on with Moneyball after his good friend Steven Soderbergh bolted just before production began , so will Murphy. After the story broke yesterday there was one comment to Mike Fleming’s piece that caught my eye. It was from an Academy member who imploredhis Academy to slow down and stop trying to become the “People’s Choice Oscar Show” and go back to the class it had when Gil Cates was the producer. Stability is something the Academy needs right now. All the talk about moving the Oscars up a month to the end of January in order to trump the other awards showsis not what’s needed. Just imagine what a panic would be on if they had done that for this year. The thing that will save the Oscars in the eyes of the public is nothing more than a good show and some good movies, not when it airs or whether its hip, young and different. If there’s a silver lining in any of this mess it may be that the Academy will put all of its focus and energy now on doing just that. Finally, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel with Brett Ratner for this year’s TCM Classic Movie Film Festival in April. He was exceptionally bright ,informed and showed himself to be very savvy, a real movie fan. I think he would have done a great show. I know he had great ideas for it. Despitehis really bad judgementand stupid actions this week, I am sorry we won’t get the chance to see what he might have done.