Brian Grazer Replacing Brett Ratner as Oscar Producer (Exclusive)

Brian Grazer has accepted the Academy’s urgent request that he step in to replace Brett Ratner as producer of the 84th Academy Awards.

As The Hollywood Reporter first reported, Academy president Tom Sherak moved quickly to reboot the venerable awards show, which had lost one of its producers as well as host Eddie Murphy, who announced Wednesday that he was withdrawing from the show in the wake of Ratner’s departure the previous day.

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Grazer, a producer of the upcoming J. Edgar, was at the top of the list of producers whom Sherak approached to come aboard and co-produce the show along with the previously announced Don Mischer. Grazer’s first order of business will be naming a new host.

It will be the first time Grazer, who won the best picture award in 2001 for A Beautiful Mind, has produced the telecast, scheduled for Feb. 26.

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“Brian Grazer is a renowned filmmaker who over the past 25 years has produced a diverse and extranordinary body of work,” Sherak said. “he will certainly bring his tremendous talent, creativity and relationships to the Oscars.”

Mischer added, “I am thrilled to welcome Brian Grazer as my partner.”

“It’s very gratifying to be part of a show that honors excellence in the medium to which I have devoted so much of my career,” said Grazer. “Don is a legend, and I am excited to work with him.”

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The Academy’s new CEO Dawn Hudson added, “I too am delighted that Brian will join Don in producing the Academy Awards and I am looking forward to our producers delivering the movie event of the year.”

In addition to his Mind best picture win, Grazer has been nominated in the writing category for Splash and received best picture nominations in 1995 and 2008 for Apollo 13 and Frost/Nixon.