After the Academy ditched Brett Ratner as Oscar producer, it quickly enlisted someone more reliable to salvage the show: veteran producer Brian Grazer. As The Hollywood Reporter wrote last night, Grazer was tapped by Academy president Tom Sherak to reboot the show and co-produce it along with Don Mischer. Grazer won an Best Picture Oscar for producing A Beautiful Mind, and was nominated for Splash!, Apollo 13, and Frost/Nixon. He also has ties with both Ratner and his pick for host, Eddie Murphy. Grazer most recently produced Tower Heist as well as Murphy's fatsuit comedies The Nutty Professor and Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps. So who knows, maybe he can convince Murphy come back? Still, if he's not available, we have a few suggestions for replacements.

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Erik Hayden