Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin to Co-Host 2010 Academy Awards

After days of speculation, the producers of the 2010 Academy Awards telecast have announced that Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin will serve as co-hosts. It’s the first time since 1987 that the Oscars have had more than one emcee; that year, Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn and Paul Hogan did the honors. The 82nd annual ceremony will be held on March 7.

The 2010 Oscars have already generated considerable buzz in the wake of the Academy’s decision to nominate 10 movies for Best Picture rather than five. Martin has hosted the telecast twice, in 2001 and 2003, and Baldwin, a 2003 Best Supporting Actor nominee for The Cooler, has been a witty presence at various awards shows. (He has won two Emmys and two Golden Globes for playing Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock.) Martin and Baldwin are co-starring in the comedy film It’s Complicated, which will be released on Christmas Day.

Baldwin, a Tony nominee for A Streetcar Named Desire, most recently appeared on the New York stage in the off-Broadway revival of Entertaining Mr. Sloane. In addition to his movie work and current tour playing the banjo in the bluegrass group Steep Canyon Rangers, Martin is the author of the play Picasso at the Lapin Agile and adapted the Carl Sternheim play The Underpants.

Hugh Jackman hosted the Oscars in 2009 and reportedly had declined to return. Ben Stiller and Robert Downey, Jr. had also reportedly turned down an offer to co-host. Adam Shankman (Hairspray) and Bill Mechanic took over producing the 2010 show from Bill Condon and Laurence Mark.