HUGH JACKMAN passes on Oscar gig

by Trish Causey

Twitter and blogs everywhere are abuzz with shock that Hugh Jackman has turned down the offer to host the Academy Awards in the Spring 2010. Reportedly, Hugh Jackman will have just begun production on a new film, "The Real Steel," a DreamWorks drama directed by Shawn Levy.

Jackman currently stars on Broadway in A Steady Rain with fellow film action-star, Daniel Craig, who is best known as the newest James Bond. Jackman was a wonderful successor to the so-so Oscar hosts of years past. He was a charming and talented breath of fresh air for the 2009 Oscars... perhaps because he did an excellent job, or perhaps because the opening number of the 2009 Oscars was a musical theatre devotee`'s dream.

For the 2009 Oscars' opening number, Jackman wore a movie musical staple: "top hat and tails", singing and dancing downstage while an army of similarly dashing male dancers were "puttin' on the Ritz" upstage. Pop singer Beyonce` dazzled in a modest, yet seductive costume of glittering red sequins and rhinestones. She evoked Jane Russell from the musical film, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" as she made her entrance, descending the steps with her smoky eyes peeking out from under her own top hat.

Hugh Jackman appeared on Broadway in The Boy from Oz, surprising everyone with his ability to hold his own on the live stage. At the end of the Oscars' opening number, Jackman exclaimed, "The musical is back!" He said it twice. "The musical is back!" That certainly seems to be the case with the success of recent movie musicals such as Moulin Rouge, Chicago, The Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Dreamgirls, The Producers, Sweeney Todd, and Mama Mia!

One can only hope the producers choose another stage savvy actor to host the Oscars. It has been proven time and time again that the best hosts for a live television show are the ones who are experienced with live stage work. They are accustomed to handling and moving past the minefield of potential foibles that can sink a television or film actor unused to "keep going" even when there's a huge mistake-- there is no "Take 2" in live performing.

Hugh Jackman said he would consider doing the Oscars in the future. I shudder to think whom the producers will ask now for this hosting gig. Might we hold off on the Oscars till he's available again? (I think so!)