James Franco blames Anne Hathaway for Oscar hosting fiasco

James Franco has a theory for why his Oscar co-hosting performance was so trashed: It was Anne Hathaway's fault!

On a pretaped clip for Friday's "Late Show With David Letterman" on CBS, Letterman asks why critics suggested that Franco was stoned during the Academy Awards telecast.

"I think I know why," the actor replies. "Because, I love her, but Anne Hathaway is so energetic, I think the Tasmanian Devil would look stoned standing next to Anne Hathaway… She has a lot of energy."

 

Franco also blames fans for having a double standard about the Oscars. "Here's the hypocritical thing:  Leading up to the Oscars, I couldn't hear enough about how, 'Oh, people don't care about the Oscars anymore, it's dead, it's boring, it's at the end of a long awards season, who cares about it?' Well, as soon as you don't host the way they want you to, they suddenly care and they won't shut up about it," he says.

Letterman, who had his own panned stint as host of the 1995 Oscars, commiserated.

What do you think of Franco's rationale, Show Trackers?

ALSO ON SHOW TRACKER:

Oscar ratings drop as critics scorn James Franco and Anne Hathaway

Carrie Ann Inaba of "Dancing With the Stars" gets engaged on TV

-- Scott Collins (twitter.com/scottcollinsLAT)

 

 

Comments

[Katheryn Satten]

Nice try, James. Hopefully future hosts now know that being stoned at work REALLY only works for Paul Shaffer ..

[Michael Lacoe]

Great. I think Franco's ultimate piece of performance art will be the self-destruction of his career.

[Laer Carroll]

Dummies! You can't tell when someone is joking?

It seems cheap to blame the hosts of the show for its failure to gain viewers. I blame the writers who fed the actors their lines.

I also blame part of the failure on the lack of suspense. Everyone pretty much knew who was going to win what.

Even more, I blame the format. Who wants to watch a bunch of old white guys in penguin suits mumble into mikes?

[Jack]

He didn't actually blame Anne.

[frank]

The real hypocrisy is on Franco. He said before the Oscars that he didn't care if he was the worst host in history but then has been so painfully thin-skinned in the wake of all the criticism. He actually got into a Twitter fight with the writer of the Oscars show recently. Also, his claim his poor performance wasn't because he didn't care or didn't try is really blown to bits when you remember that he came out on stage from the very beginning with his cell phone in hand snapping pics of the audience that he posted all night on Twitter as the show was going on. You don't get more disinterested than that.

[Ryan in L.A.]

He might be 'joking' about blaming Hathaway, but he's not allowed to do that. He left her hanging on live television and should be apologizing to her. Instead, he's throwing a dart at her while she's not in the room. Franco has completely lost me.

[Sara]

My goodness, the boy even dogged her LA style. "I love her, BUT..." (LA style, btw, is remarkably similar to Southern style, only he'd have said "Bless her heart" to ram it home.)

I don't care who you are, you don't go all Andy Kaufman at the Oscars. That's just not the time or place. Franco also failed in the followthrough--if you're going to pull a stunt like that, you need to be able to anticipate and even relish the fallout. Franco couldn't do that; it seems to have gotten under his skin that not everybody liked his little prank. You can't have it both ways.

Finally, blaming Hathaway (who likely understood very quickly that she was on a sinking ship and amped up the perky since her only other option was to clobber her cohost) just sinks him down even lower. Sir, you are no Andy Kaufman.

[mrsmurgatroyd]

James was just replaying his James Dean impression. He just seems to have one persona. I thought he did ok at the Awards. There was no real competition in the movies up for awards so it was boring. Anne is good though because her energy is really upbeat. James as an actor has to be able to play more than one character.

[GeraldR5]

Give the guy a break. I'm sure he did his best with some pretty terrible material. The writers did a lousy job. The show had little interest and less suspense. The best part was Anne Hathaway who was absolutely dazzling
and vivacious!

[Babalu]

He was stoned.

[natalie]

why does the critics have it in for Franco? Stop twisting his words. He admitted he probably did have low energy but he was just pointing out Anne's energy was tantamount and that made people notice his demeanor even more.

He said this in jest; you all are trying to turn it into something hateful.

[hk]

It's time the Franco worshippers realize James is a narcissistic black hole. Anybody who's worked with the guy can tell you what a selfish jerk he really is.

[Rob]

The only people who are stoned are the ones who actually think he was blaming or criticising Hathaway.

[Eddie]

She tried; he didn't.

[michael g]

I don't think Mr. Franco, or Mr. Letterman, for that matter, have any business hosting anything but a backyard barbeque...

[frank]

'He said this in jest'

No, he didn't. He was clearly and seriously trying to explain how he appeared so low-energy. He wasn't joking at all. Instead of simply taking some responsibility for his horrible performance, he threw her under the bus. When, in truth, a corpse would have appeared high-energy next to him.

[Chris W]

Well, there was that starring role in Pineapple Express. Also, can anyone be "laconic" in 2011 without accused of being baked? Apparently not. And Hathaway really is kind of an Energizer Bunny, so he has a point - Hugh Jackman would have looked like a slacker next to her. The humorous irony of the headline also seems to be lost on a lot of readers.

[Timi Burke]

I watched the dude on an interview show some time after the Oscars and he was just bursting with 'gloat' about his impressive endeavors at Yale. After that, for some reason he tweeted a pic inscribed with an FU to the Yale school paper.

Definitely an ego problem. He completely psychologically withdrew from the role of Oscar host after about a third of the way through -- he was just a lump with slitted-eyes and a wiseass smirk. Fail.

[Chicago8787]

James Franco is the ultimate Jackass. He will throw anyone under the bus to avoid blame. This guy is delusional , plus he is a liar. He showed more energy ( and yelling ) with David Letterman, than he did hosting the Oscars. During the Oscar pre-show interview , it blatantly obvious he didn't want to be at the Oscars. He is lying to Letterman that he did the best he could. No , he didn't. He spent more of the time taking pictures than hosting the Oscars. He maintained a deer in headlights look throughout the broadcast . Franco wouldn't even connect with Anne Hathaway nor the audience. He was practically a mannequin at the Oscars. You know James is bad when Kirk Douglas has more energy , enthusiasm, and stamina than James. The more Franco talks about the Oscars, the more it hurts his reputation. He truly needs to shut-up before it hurts his film career.

[Jake]

James Franco can wallpaper his home with degrees and eventually teach a class, but that doesn't mean the guy will ever HAVE class.

First, the Oscar hacks equip their inexperienced hosts with excruciatingly dreadful material, then, responding to the critical backlash, the president of the academy publicly scapegoats the actors by revealing that they were most definitely not the producers' first choices (ouch!), and now Franco is trying to dump the blame for his lousy performance on Anne Hathaway (who completely gave it her all only to wind up getting mercilessly ridiculed for her efforts). Unbelievable.