Eddie Murphy to Host The Oscars

Eddie Murphy has been selected to host the upcoming Academy Awards, which is scheduled to take place on February 26th 2012. Murphy was once nominated – in 2006 for his supporting role in Dreamgirls. He has more Razzie nominations however as his career took a sharp downturn by taking on roles in some truly terrible films. Still he is fondly remembered for his early career and in particular his brilliant stand-up comedy.

Brett Ratner is running the show and chose Murphy, who is in the November release action-comedy Tower Heist directed by Ratner, which is getting some strong early buzz behind it.

“Eddie is a comedic genius, one of the greatest and most influential live performers ever,” said Ratner. “With his love of movies, history of crafting unforgettable characters and his iconic performances – especially on stage – I know he will bring excitement, spontaneity and tremendous heart to the show Don and I want to produce in February.”

The move is inspired and could interject some much needed excitement into the Oscars, which failed to do so with the pairing of James Franco and Anne Hathaway – widely considered to be a disaster in the previous show.