With the news Monday that James Franco and Anne Hathaway would be hosting the Oscars, award savants immediately began speculating on whether it would help or hurt the actors’ own statuette chances. Mr. Franco is a likely nominee for his role as the wounded hiker Aron Ralston in “127 Hours,” a title which could also be milked for the “this awards show is sooo long” jokes (paging Bruce Vilanch!). Ms. Hathaway has a longer shot for playing a lusty Parkinson’s patient in “Love and Other Drugs,” an Edward Zwick dramedy which performed poorly at the box office in its opening weekend.
“Hathaway’s best hope is for a Globe nomination,” Caryn James, a critic for Newsweek, told The Hollywood Reporter. She added that the hosting gig does give the actors, who started out in a quickly canceled teen comedy series (Mr. Franco, “Freaks and Geeks”) and saccharine Disney films (Ms. Hathaway, “The Princess Diaries”) some real Hollywood cred. “This sends a message that Franco and Hathaway are taken seriously in the business — they’re grown-ups! — which can help push them to the front of a race,” she said, “but I don’t think it changes their odds of winning or even getting nominated.”
If they were nominated, Ms. Hathaway and Mr. Franco would not be the first to handle the awkwardness of winning or losing as M.C.s. Sean Hayes did it for the Tony Awards, Neil Patrick Harris and Tom Selleck for the Emmys, and Paul Hogan for the Oscars, in 1987. (Crocodile Dundee made New York Magazine’s list of weirdest Oscar hosts ever, along with Donald Duck and Sir Laurence Olivier). The Vulture folks also give some odds on what bits we’ll likely see from “Francaway,” including a joke about Ms. Hathaway’s nudity in “Love and Other Drugs” (2–1) and a Franco-stoner reference (3–1).
On the red carpet Monday night at the Gotham Independent Film Awards, Ms. Hathaway compared the Oscar assignment to hosting “Saturday Night Live” – naked. Mr. Franco hasn’t commented, but he’s probably off somewhere, watching every Oscars telecast ever and planning a triptych zine/short film/performance art piece about it. Or maybe
Read More: Handicapping the Oscar Hosts’
