Unless Don Cheadle is playing coy, it’s looking unlikely that Marvel’s Avengers cast will host the 2019 Oscars, as had been rumored in the wake of Kevin Hart’s decision not to emcee the awards show.
“I doubt it’s going to happen,” Cheadle exclusively told Us Weekly at the New York City premiere of his new TV comedy, Black Monday, on Monday, January 14.
He added: “It’s OK. It’s just one night. Of course, it would be awesome. It would be the best thing ever. But people have babies and families and other gigs and stuff.”
“It’s a lot of people to get together,” Cheadle concluded. (More than two dozen actors starred in the latest Avengers installment, 2018’s Infinity War, including Cheadle as James Rhodes a.k.a. War Marchine.)
That said, the House of Lies alum has a hashtag in mind for the prospect. “#AvengersHostTheOscars,” he quipped. “I think it’s already a thing. Is it trending? It’s probably not trending. I don’t think it’s trending.”
Even if the hashtag isn’t trending, speculation about a superhero boost to the 91st Academy Awards telecast has been building since The Hollywood Reporter claimed on January 10 that the show won’t have a traditional host and will instead recruit a rotating cast of presenters, including as many Avengers stars as possible.
Cheadle’s Black Monday costar Paul Scheer gave his thumbs-up to the idea, as did producer Evan Goldberg.
“I want all of the Avengers in that thing,” Scheer, 42, told Us at the event. “It would be the best. That’s what the Oscars should be. It’s like the most successful famous people in Hollywood having a party. I think it would actually be good because then there’s no pressure … We’ve got 16 people up there. Yeah, the law of averages means it’d probably be the best show ever. I mean, we only had two at the most. We have 16, it’s going to be eight times better.”
Added Goldberg, 36: “I want it to happen. That’d be fun. In costume, right?”
The 91st Academy Awards air live on ABC on Sunday, February 24, at 8 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Antonia Blyth
