The actor and Broadway star Neil Patrick Harris is set to host the 2015 Oscars.
Variety reports that Harris will follow in the footsteps of Ellen DeGeneres, whose helming of the 2014 awards show was considered a success.
The 2014 ceremony had the highest number of viewers for 14 years, with DeGegeneres’s Oscars selfie becoming the most retweeted message of all time, supposedly worth $1bn to Samsung, the sponsor.
However, Variety said that DeGeneres could not be persuaded to return for a second year, and had been highly reluctant to take the hosting job in the first place.
Harris is a seasoned awards show host, having presented both the Tony awards and the Emmys. Currently riding high thanks to his scene-stealing role in Gone Girl, the former child star has considerable song-and-dance chops, and this year won a Tony for his lead role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Broadway.
Harris’s awards hosting has been notable for showstopping opening numbers which combine wit, satire, glitz and self-mockery – for instance the 2011 Tony awards opener about Broadway, It’s Not Just For Gays Anymore.
The following year, he made an entrance dangling upside down on a rope as Spider-Man. Oscars producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron will hope that Harris can deliver the same kind of witty and sharp-edged, but still family-friendly, hosting on a show that is broadcast live and watched in 225 countries.
Hosting the Oscars can be a poisoned chalice. In 2013, Seth MacFarlane’s opening song We Saw Your Boobs caused worldwide uproar, while James Franco was described as “bored to the point of catatonia” when co-hosting in 2011 with Anne Hathaway.
The Oscars take place on 22 February.
