Neil Patrick Harris the fourth choice for Oscars host

NEIL Patrick Harris snagged the 2015 Oscars hosting gig, but he wasn’t producers’ top choice for the job, there were three others they wanted before him.

(FILES) In this NOvember 11, 2011 file photo, actor Neil Patrick Harris arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas", at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California. Award-winning US stage and screen actor Neil Patrick Harris will host next year's Oscars show, organizers announced October 15, 2014. The star, who has hosted both Broadway's Tony and TV's Emmy awards show in the past, will front the 87th Academy Awards on February 22, said the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. AFP PHOTO / Robyn Beck / FILES

NEIL Patrick Harris snagged the 2015 Oscars hosting gig, but he wasn’t producers’ top choice for the job, there were three others they wanted before him.

Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron first “begged” Ellen DeGeneres to return for next year’s awards show, but she was “firmly against” doing so, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Neil Patrick Harris was the only one out of the four to accept.

Ellen DeGeneres was producer’s number one choice.

Last year, the talk-show host improved ratings by 8 per cent and also got the social media world buzzing with her star-studded selfie that “broke” Twitter. DeGeneres, 56, also hosted the Academy Awards in 2007.

Chris Rock, who hosted in 2005, was next on the Academy’s wish list, reports the magazine. Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus was third in line for the job, but also turned it down.

Chris Rock last hosted the Oscars in 2005.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus was producer’s third choice.

Harris, 41, has hosted Broadway’s Tony Awards four times and TV’s Emmy Awards twice. He announced the gig earlier this month via a video posted to Twitter, saying hosting the Oscars was on his “bucket list.”

Wrangling the Oscars comes with its own set of pressures — and haters — as criticised 2011 hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco certainly found out.

A rep for Harris didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.