Neil Patrick Harris Had ‘No Idea’ He Was Up for Oscars Hosting Gig
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ABC/Mark Ashman(NEW YORK) — Neil Patrick Harris said he was just happily going about the book tour for his new autobiography, Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography, when he got the phone call last week to host the 2015 Academy Awards.
“[I had] no idea at all,” Harris said on Friday’s Good Morning America. “I thought, weirdly, because I’ve hosted other shows, that that was a strike against me a little bit because they had gone with people before — Seth MacFarlane and stuff — who were sort of new.”
The How I Met Your Mother star has hosted the Emmy Awards twice and the Tony Awards four times.
Harris’ connections to this year’s producers might’ve helped him nab the coveted gig. “I know Neil Meron and Craig Zadan very well, the producers of it, and so they asked me to do it,” Harris explained.
Harris also clarified that he didn’t pitch himself to host Hollywood’s biggest night. “Awards shows, you can’t really decide that you want to host them. They call you and ask you if you will,” he said. “Even if you pitch yourself for it, it feels desperate so you just have to hope the spotlight hits you.”
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday that Harris will host the 87th Oscars ceremony on February 22, 2015. ABC will air the show live.
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