Eddie Murphy For Oscar Host?

Forget everything we said about Ricky Gervais: according to Hollywood insiders, actor Eddie Murphy is in serious talks to host this year’s Oscars while director Brett Ratner will produce.

In a meeting scheduled for tomorrow, Ratner will apparently talk to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences President Tom Sherak about the comedian taking on hosting duties, and while nothing is yet a “done deal”, Reuters reports that there’s still many more steps before Murphy will be solidified as 2011’s Hathaway-Franco.

And while Don Mischer, the nights’ other producer, has been allegedly approached by “several big names”, Ratner is rumoured to be super-keen on the Shrek funnyman – who you may forget was actually nominated for an Oscar thanks to 2006’s Dreamgirls.

That said, Murphy’s got a full dance card for the next few months, gearing up for promo duties for the upcoming Ratner-directed, Tower Heist, as well as the long-shelved A Thousand Words which is slated for release in January.

So will these movies (and subsequent hosting gig) be the 30 Rock to Eddie Murphy’s Alec Baldwin? Or will hosting duties only remind us of two films we may potentially want to forget? Either way, it’s important we always remember Beverly Hills Cop – or at least the super-fantastic novelty favourite, “Party All the Time”. Because if he performs that, the show will already be head and shoulders above the Oscars’ last two broadcasts.