*With Ratner out, who will produce the Oscar show? And will Murphy host?

No word from Eddie Murphy, whose participation in the Academy Awards telecast seemed to have been a packaged deal with Ratner (he directed Murphy in "Tower Heist"). Apparently, there's even talk about Cirque du Soleil helping out - not an altogether crazy idea considering that Cirque's "Iris" production. now running at the Kodak Theater, is all about the movies. NY magazine's Claude Brodesser-Akner describes the hand-wringing:

Now the Academy must scramble for a new producer, a difficult proposition. "They're in a real fix," says this member, "It's not a 9-to-5 job; it's a 9-to-9 job, for two months straight." And many of the top producing veterans aren't an option: Bill Condon, who produced the telecast in 2009, would likely make his Dreamgirls star Eddie Murphy happy, but the director will probably be too busy editing the Twilight finale, Breaking Dawn - Part 2, to take on the show. And two of the other most practiced Oscars producers recently passed: Gil Cates, who produced fourteen ceremonies between 1980 and 2008, died late last month, and Laura Ziskin, who produced both the 2002 Oscars and the 2007 Oscars, passed away in June. "I wish Gil Cates were still here to rescue it," says our Academy source. "He would have. I do know they're talking to New York theater folks again. After all, that's what the Oscars is: a spectacle. Maybe having Cirque du Soleil produce wouldn't be such a bad idea." Something tells us that Murphy, who also told Rolling Stone that he doesn't "have any interest in [doing family movies] right now," won't be thrilled about the idea of doing an opening number with Canadian clowns.

Earlier: Brett Ratner out as Oscar producer

*Update: That didn't take long - Eddie Murphy is out as Oscar host. From his statement:

"First and foremost I want to say that I completely understand and support each party's decision with regard to a change of producers for this year's Academy Awards ceremony. I was truly looking forward to being a part of the show that our production team and writers were just starting to develop, but I'm sure that the new production team and host will do an equally great job."

Those Cirque du Soleil acrobats are looking better all the time.