Since the Oscars sided with live telecasts, it has gotten more prone to bloopers than ever before. However, the event that took place at Hollywood's Night of Nights in 2011 wasn't much like a blooper, in fact, it was a complete disaster. The 83rd Academy Awards were hosted by two very beautiful people — the Oscar-winning Anne Hathaway and Oscar-nominee (nominated in the same ceremony) James Franco. Nothing about the pairing sounds so fiddly but the show they put up was undoubtedly way off. The sheer lack of chemistry between the two seemed to stick out like a sore thumb.
Here's what exactly went wrong at 2011's ceremony — Franco delivered next to nothing in terms of entertainment and Hathaway overly compensated for the same with unchecked energy. Apparently, Hathaway felt the same, in 2012, she said she was "slightly manic and hyper-cheerleadery on-screen."
Hathaway was over the top, but it wasn't all her fault. In an interview with People, she told, "God, I just remember the night before we're about to go up there, and me turning to everyone and going, 'Am I too much? This feels really big to me.' And the producer just went, 'No! Don't do less. Do more if you need to.' And I was like, 'Oh okay, I guess it's going great.' And I didn't realize what was happening about that whole thing."
On the other hand, Franco's explanation didn't make a lot of sense. Franco told Playboy, "I thought, OK, Anne is going the enthusiastic route. I've been trained as an actor to respond to circumstances, to people I'm working with, and not to force anything. So I thought I would be the straight man and she could be the other, and that's how I was trying to do those lines."
Well, the moment the voice in the background announced, 'Ladies and gentleman, your hosts for the evening - James Franco and Anne Hathaway,' everybody's expressions lit up (Hugh Jackman would agree). They kicked off the traditional way cracking jokes on each other, Hathaway as an endlessly cheerful girl and Franco as a mid-school nervous student whose presentation in up next. They were poles apart in their slant, at two opposite extremes.
It is clear that Hathaway was way more excited than Franco to host, but ironically, the fact of the matter is that Franco induced her to emcee. Hathaway has spilled the beans about what exactly led her to host the ceremony even though she was initially reluctant about it. She told, "I turned that gig down and James is the one that convinced me to do it."
The effort to strike witty punches couldn't get laughter out of anybody but themselves. The parody of Black Swan, Hathaway's song based on Hugh Jackman, and Franco's Marlyn Monroe avatar all ended up down the drain.
Anne Hathway admitted to being totally embarrassed by how their act unfolded. She told, "The thing about me and embarrassment is you have to remember is that it all happens on a scale, If you think about embarrassment on scale of 1 to 10, 1 being a person walking down the street and 10 is, for me, co-hosting the Oscars with James Franco."
No doubt, their time at the grandest stage was so terrible that the awful memory of it didn't seem to fade away for so long. Although, almost everything went down in their effort to hold the attention of fellow celebrities and the audience, over time, their hosting gig has turned into the top cringe hour in the industry.
Every time a discussion about Hollywood hosts is underway, these two can't be skipped. Nine years later, the duo is recalled as two of the most notorious figures in the Oscars' history. Hathaway hasn't backed off from poking fun at her bombed gig.
In 2015, Hathaway floated Neil Patrick Harris a piece of advice about hosting, she jokingly said, "Do the opposite of what I did, and you'll be fine." Also, ahead of the first hostless Oscars, Hathaway posted a throwback shot of herself with Franco on Instagram captioned, "No matter what happens with today's show, just remember, it's already been worse. Happy Oscars!"
Every list honoring the worst Oscar hosts finds James and Anne on the top. In fact, their piece has actually transitioned into cringe comedy which is when we derive humor out of an awkward social situation. It's certain that even A-listers can have an unfortunate day at work and 2011's Oscar was that very day.