Getting tapped to host the Academy Awards is as pretty good an indication that you’re a pretty big deal as there is in the ole’ entertainment biz. It’s a plum gig: You slap on a suit, read a few gags off the autocue, avoid making too much fun of James Cameron because he’d probably bash a fool saying you didn’t like one of his movies, and then collect your tidy paycheque and sod off to the after parties.
And you’d think, being the plummest of plum gigs and one of the most visible hosting roles in the global entertainment industry, that that paycheque would be more than a little bit tidy. That there’d be a fair amount zeroes on that badboy. That it’d be a cheque so big you’d need a forklift to carry it out of the theatre.
However the truth is that… actually, it’s a pretty shocking amount of money. And not in the way you might think.
Jimmy Kimmel is set to host Hollywood’s night of nights next year, and he’s revealed exactly how much he’ll be making from the show:
$15,000.
Fifteen. Thousand.
That uh… Obviously that’s a fair amount of money for Joe Average like you or me (if any Hollywood bigwig types are reading this and happen to have a spare $15k lying around gathering dust, please send it to Pedestrian’s Melbourne office and I’ll “look after it” for you). But to host the Oscars? The OSCARS? That doesn’t feel like a real lot of cash.
Kimmel revealed the relatively low amount in a radio interview with KROQ show ‘Kevin & Bean‘ Wednesday morning US time, joking that it’s probably illegal for them to pay him nothing.
“I’m not sure I was supposed to reveal this. But nobody told me not to. I consider this their fault.”
“They asked like 14 people and they all said no and then there was me. I absolutely was surprised.”
Kimmel also opened up this week’s run of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!‘ shows by joking about his brand new gig:
“The producers and the Academy went through a long list of names, and in the end, they decided that, since I am already right across the street from where they do the show, I was the closest person to host.”
So there you have it, folks. Hosting the Oscars gets you paid a little bit, all things considered.
‘Course everyone knows the real loot is in those utterly ridiculous Oscars gift bags they give to famous people. Y’know, the ones that have diamonds and gadgets and half a Panda in there or somesuch.
The 89th Academy Awards is scheduled to air live Monday February 27th (Aus time), from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
Source: Variety.
Photo: Randy Holmes/Getty.
