She Likes to Watch

Oscar winner Alan Arkin of “Little Miss Sunshine” is coming to San Luis Obispo

As show business legend has it, the directors of “Little Miss Sunshine” nearly rejected Alan Arkin for the role of the film’s foul-mouthed, heroin-snorting grandpa because he was “too virile.”

Too virile?!? Sounds like a veiled compliment to me.

In fact, Arkin, who celebrates his 76th birthday this spring, continues to enjoy a professional popularity that many in the film industry would envy. In the past five years, he’s appeared in 11 movies,  including such certifiable hits as “Get Smart” and “Marley & Me.”

Perhaps it’s the Oscar-winning actor’s wonderfully sarcastic screen persona or his superb cache of character roles. Whatever the reason, he’s a hot Hollywood property right now.

In March, the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival will honor Arkin with its highest individual prize — the King Vidor Career Achievement Award, which celebrates excellence in filmmaking.

Past recipients include Academy Award winners Morgan Freeman, Eva Marie Saint and Ernest Borgnine, Oscar nominees Norman Jewison, James Cromwell and Peter Fonda, and Golden Globe nominee Malcolm McDowell.

Best known for his roles in such films as “Wait Until Dark,” “Catch 22,” “The In-Laws” and “Glengarry Glen Ross,” Arkin has spent much of his film career as a sarcastic straight man in a world-gone-mad.

He’s spent the last few years developing a repertoire of good-natured grumps — surly, misanthropic dads and grandpas who refuse to play by society’s rules.

Just look at Murray Abromowitz, the poverty-stricken divorcee in the criminally underrated “Slums of Beverly Hills” or Joe Lokorkowski, the popcorn-peddling kook in “Sunshine Cleaning.” These are men accustomed to hard-scrabble lives and frequent disappointment, ordinary guys who meet each fresh affront with a sarcastic smirk and eyeballs rolled heavenward.

It’s as the heroin-snorting, porn-addicted grandfather in “Little Miss Sunshine,” however, that Arkin’s talent is truly evident.

In honor of Alan Arkin, here’s a clip of “Little Miss Sunshine.”

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If you’re interested, here are a couple interviews with Alan Arkin.

Learn what it’s like to Alan from “Little Miss Sunshine” directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and co-stars Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear in this clip.

You can also check out Arkin’s conversation with Jerry Bowen, host of CBS’s “Eye to Eye,” right here.

Funnymen Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will co-host the Oscars in 2010

As you’ve probably heard by now, the 2010 Oscars will feature “two wild and crazy guys.”

No, wer’re not talking about George and Yortuk Festrun, the crazed Czech brothers played by Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd on “Saturday Night Live.”

Instead, Martin will join longtime friend Alec Baldwin in hosting the 82nd Academy Awards, Oscar telecast producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman announced Tuesday.

“We think the team of Steve and Alec are the perfect pair of hosts for the Oscars,” Shankman and Mechanic said.  “Steve will bring the experience of having hosted the show in the past and Alec will be a completely fresh personality for this event.”

The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences had originally hoped to renuite this year’s host, Hugh Jackman, with producers Larry Mark and Bill Condon. No dice.

After settling on Mechanic and Shankman as producers, the Academy approached “Tropic Thunder” co-stars Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. as potential hosts. The dynamic duo said “No.”

So the Oscars turned instead to two proven properties: comedic geniuses Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.

Martin, whose comedic career has ranged from the sublime (“The Jerk,” “Roxanne”)  to the insipid (“Cheaper by the Dozen” “The Pink Panther”), is an obvious choice.

He’s already hosted the Academy Awards twice and served as a presenter on the show several times. His most recent appearance, in fact, was with Tina Fey in February.

As I recall, Martin’s 2001 and 2003 hosting gigs failed to impress me. Although he brought a certain sly nonchalance to the often dull Oscars ceremony, his performance felt underplayed and predictable.

“He’s okay,” I remember thinking as the white-haired comic cracked a “Dude, Where’s My Car?” joke. “But he’s no Billy Crystal.”

This year, it’s the Academy’s choice of Alec Baldwin that seems truly inspired.

Through the decades, Baldwin’s acting career has focused heavily on hot-blooded dramas (“The Departed”) and black comedies (“Glengarry Glen Ross”). He earned a Tony Award nomination in 1992 for “A Streetcar Named Desire,” and an Oscar nomination for 2003’s “The Cooler.”

More recently, however, Baldwin has been letting his long-hidden talent for comedy shine — on the Emmy Award-winning sitcom “30 Rock.”

He’s simply brilliant as corporate boss Jack Donaghy, a cocky, confident bastard whose cutthroat business acumen can be downright chilling. In fact, I predict that Baldwin could win a third Emmy for the show next year.

So, do Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin — who last appeared together during the third season of “30 Rock” — have what it takes to make the 82nd Oscars memorable?

The answer might come with the Christmas release of “It’s Complicated.”

Written and directed by Nancy Meyers, the romantic comedy stars Meryl Streep as a divorced woman who finds herself romantically torn between her ex-husband (Baldwin) and her new flame (Martin).

If Baldwin and Martin’s on-screen chemistry is anything like what we witnessed on “30 Rock,” we’re in good hands.

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The 82nd Academy Awards take place on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. The ceremony will be televised live on ABC.

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Who’s your favorite Oscars host?(online surveys)