Whereas it’s far too early to invest on what motion pictures can be nominated at subsequent yr’s Oscars (Dune: Half Two? Madame Internet? A straight-to-streaming Sharknado sequel starring the Hawk Tuah lady?), the Academy has already been actively making an attempt to lock down a number. Reportedly, Jimmy Kimmel and John Mulaney have been provided the gig, however each have turned it down.
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That is particularly disappointing information for Mulaney followers, who’ve been clamoring for him to host ever since he killed on the Academy’s Governors Awards and delighted the group ultimately yr’s Oscars, when he offered the award for Achievement in Sound and reminded us all of the magic of the flicks how downright goofy Subject of Desires actually was.
Regardless of the widespread push for Mulaney to host the Oscars, Mulaney himself has remained pretty noncommittal on the difficulty. Simply final month Selection requested him if he’d host if requested, and he responded, “Oh… I’d guess. I imply, I like doing issues.” He additionally prompt that he could be busy as a result of he has a “ebook signing at Barnes & Noble at The Grove” one Sunday that month.
Mulaney’s apathy, and supreme rejection of the supply, isn’t all that stunning as a result of internet hosting the Oscars is a reasonably crappy gig. Along with the scrutiny, strain and iffy Bruce Vilanch jokes, Oscar hosts don’t receives a commission all that a lot. Whereas the Academy doesn’t promote their employment data, in 2016, Kimmel disclosed that he was paid simply $15,000 to host, whereas additionally admitting, “I’m undecided I used to be speculated to reveal this, however no one informed me to not.” He additionally claimed that producers informed him that this was in step with what different hosts, like Chris Rock and Billy Crystal, had been given.
Fifteen thousand {dollars} is clearly some huge cash for one night time’s work, however as Kimmel identified in 2022, after you issue within the many months of labor and planning that goes into an Oscars’ efficiency, it really works out to “lower than scale,” SAG-AFTRA’s absolute minimal price. He even inspired Wanda Sykes, who was about to co-host the awards with Amy Schumer and Regina Corridor, to “maintain out” for more cash.
It feels odd to advocate for extra pay for literal millionaires, nevertheless it’s not like this present doesn’t spend a ton of cash. And also you’d suppose {that a} substantial chunk of that finances would go towards paying the host, who’s ostensibly the face of the ceremony.
To place issues in perspective, in 2013, the Academy reportedly spent $34,800 on Wolfgang Puck’s white truffles, implying that hoity-toity fungi for folks to take pleasure in off-camera is greater than twice as necessary because the individual internet hosting the precise broadcast. And the present’s producers are apparently despatched an honorarium consisting of a “thank-you card and a examine within the low-six figures.”
So the issue isn’t that they don’t have a number of cash to throw round, it’s that their finances implicitly devalues the comedic voice steering the ceremony. And that is clearly changing into an issue in the event that they’re unable to safe somebody like Mulaney who, again in 2021 was making “a median of $119,645 per present.”
Supposedly, Mulaney turned down the Oscars as a consequence of scheduling causes, and he’s clearly not arduous up for money. But when somebody provided you the prospect to carry out your regular job, however for longer, with extra criticism, and for lower than a tenth of what you’re usually paid, why in god’s identify would you ever comply with these phrases?
The Academy has seemingly been in a position to preserve providing these charges as a result of, as Alec Baldwin (who predictably additionally grumbled about his “rooster feed” paycheck) put it, the job is “all concerning the honor of serving to to extol movie achievement.”
However in a world the place the Academy handed a trophy to the man who randomly attacked one of many occasion’s comedian presenters, it’s doable that the Academy’s “honor” has been greater than somewhat tarnished — particularly for comedians.
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