When Michael Ovitz departed CAA in the mid-1990s, screenwriter-novelist Doug Richardson found himself unexpectedly caught up in a blaze of media coverage.

In a blog post titled “Spiking the Football,” he recalls that because he happened to leave the agency for William Morris right before Ovitz’s exit, he was lumped together somewhat hilariously with David E. Kelley in LA Times and New York Times coverage. Separately, when Richardson’s new agents packaged his first nove Dark Horse for mid-six figures, he did an interview with Variety’s Mike Fleming. Which got him into a lot of trouble:

“So,” said Fleming. “John Travolta as star. Brian Grazer and Ron Howard as producers. How’s that feel?”

“Great,” I answered, then added something I thought was funny. “Who knew I’d have to leave CAA to get packaged.”

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Can it be? Are The Oscars actually making an attempt to attract a younger, diverse audience?

Rapper/producer Pharrell Williams is joining the 84th Academy Awards as a music consultant with Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer.

Williams is the lead singer of the rap group N.E.R.D. and has produced the likes of Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Snoop Dogg and Jay-Z.

Zimmer needs no introduction as he’s composed music for over 100 films including The Lion King and The Dark Knight.

“I am honored to work with my mentor and teacher, Hans Zimmer, and I have wanted to collaborate with Brian Grazer on something for years,” Williams said in a statement. “I cannot believe I will be joining them and their teams on the most prestigious show of the year, the Academy Awards.”

Actor Billy Crystal tweeted Thursday that he would host the 84th Academy Awards, replacing Eddie Murphy who dropped out Wednesday after producer Brett Ratner resigned.

The Academy hasn’t formally issued a statement yet, but they did retweet Crystal’s tweet. Brian Grazer was tapped as Ratner’s replacement on Wednesday.

The Academy tried to go the edgy route with the duo of Ratner and Murphy, but they are clearly playing it safe from here on out by selecting Crystal as host for a ninth time.

The Academy Awards has tapped Brian Grazer to co-produce their 2012 telecast with Don Mischer after Brett Ratner resigned Tuesday.

Grazer is best known for producing A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13 and funny enough, a trio of Eddie Murphy films in Tower Heist, The Nutty Professor and Boomerang.

That means Grazer and Murphy will be reunited once again … oh wait … Murphy decided to pull out as host when his BFF decided to quit due to his poor judgement and homophobic comments.

“Brian Grazer is a renowned filmmaker who over the past 25 years has produced a diverse and extraordinary body of work,” said Academy president Tom Sherak in a statement. “He will certainly bring his tremendous talent, creativity and relationships to the Oscars.”

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Cleverly titled “The Playboy Interview,” this week’s Hollywood Reporter magazine cover story is a conversation with the one and only Hugh Hefner, still going semi-strong at age 85.

There’s not much new to be written about Hef at this point, especially in the wake of Brigitte Berman‘s solid 2009 documentary. However, reporter Stephen Galloway does share what FishbowlLA thought was a very interesting tidbit about that long-rumored Hollywood biopic of the Holmby Hills icon:

Brian Grazer still wants to make a biopic, but says the main problem has been locating “a central conflict in a charmed life. He’s one of the most influential people [in our society], but finding that conflict is hard.”

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As VP of production for Columbia/Sony Pictures, Devon Franklin is the man responsible for the blockbusters The Pursuit of Happyness, Hancock, and The Karate Kid remake. His latest film  Jumping The Broom blends romantic comedy with spirituality, a theme Franklin says resonates now more than ever with moviegoers.

“I do think that, in general, when you look at what’s going on in the world and where kind of how things are,” he said in our @mediabeat interview, “people are looking to go to the theater and find hope, and to get inspired, and to be encouraged. And I think that when you have faith in a film, and you do it right, it can do that.”

Franklin also expressed some disappointment in Spike Lee‘s longstanding criticism of Tyler Perry. (In case you missed it, Perry recently bit back, telling Lee he can “go to hell.”)

“There is room for everyone — for Tyler, for Spike. I mean, there’s room for all different types of filmmakers and all different types of filmmakers of color. Our experience is incredibly rich and diverse, so why would we allow ourselves to be subject to a dialogue that doesn’t represent that?” he said. “Would you ever say, ‘Hey, I’m going to see the Jerry Bruckheimer movie over going to see the Brian Grazer movie’? No. It doesn’t even make sense.”

Part 2: Columbia Pictures VP Devon Franklin: ‘If You Write a Good Script, We’ll Find It’

Part 3: Columbia Pictures VP Devon Franklin Talks Netflix, Social Media

L.A. Observed has the dirt on a series of legal maneuvers by and related to former LAT Op/Ed editor Andres Martinez.

If you’ll recall, Martinez resigned from his post last year after offering to let producer Brian Grazer guest-edit the Sunday Opinion section. Grazer was repped by Martinez’s then-girlfriend, Kelly Mullens. At the time, Martinez said there was nothing fishy about the arrangement, but now it turns out he blames his whole downfall on his former flame … and has filed a lawsuit to prove it!

Mullens, for her part, says the suit is, according to LAO “”backlash over a restraining order obtained by Mullens earlier this year.”

Classy!

A Little Welcome Wagon: Tom Cruise and Will Smith will team up to throw the Beckhams a welcome-to-LA bash on Sunday for 600 of their closest friends, including Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, Jim Carrey, Anjelica Huston, Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Brian Grazer, Warner Bros. President Alan Horn and Universal Pictures chief Ron Meyer. And other neighbors.

Emmy Noms Are In: And Ugly Betty is sitting pretty with 11 nods. The Envelope has more.

What’s Gotten Into Those Clowns? Has LAT replaced its copy editors with the creators of Bum Fights? Story after story about Michael Vick’s indictment on graphic allegations of animal cruelty, is preceded with astoundingly inappropriate pun-ny headlines. Including, from the site’s homepage: “A Dog-gone Mess.” Seriously?

Brett Ratner will direct a film based on the life of Hugh Hefner. Brian Grazer optioned the rights years back, and had Oliver Stone and Scott Silver take some stabs at the project. But Ratner brought his trademarked class and dignity that this project so richly deserves. He told Variety:

Hef came from a puritanical upbringing and reinvented himself to be the godfather of the sexual revolution. He also used his magazine to advocate civil rights and free speech, and put James Brown on his show ‘Playboy After Dark’ when they didn’t put black performers on national television.

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Brian Grazer, still reeling from the cancellation of his debut as a newspaper editor, is splitting from his wife, Gigi Levangie-Grazer. And oddly enough, this news comes just before the couple’s 10th anniversary. He filed in 2006, but they reconciled.

Ten years is the make-it date for a “long-term marriage” in California, not that it matters as Page 6 says they have an “air-tight pre nup”. Page 6 also says they both make their own money, but her own money ain’t nothin’ like his.

And the couple’s house is back on the market, just like them, only the house is listed at $27.5 mil.