James Franco opens up about unenthusiastic hosting performance at 2011 Oscars

Several months after his performance at the 83rd Academy Awards was panned by critics and viewers alike, James Franco is coming forward to reveal his dissatisfaction with the material he was given and explain that his lack of enthusiasm was intentional to contrast the personality of co-host Anne Hathaway.

“In the last week, when we really started focusing on the script for the live show and did a run-through, I said to the producer, ‘I don’t know why you hired me because you haven’t given me anything. I just don’t think this stuff’s going to be good,’” Franco tells Playboy, according to The Huffington Post.

The Oscar-nominated actor adds that he butted heads with producers over a bit in which he dressed in drag as Marilyn Monroe. Franco initially hoped to sing as Cher and have the Burlesque star join him onstage, but those plans were scrapped when the track from her film did not earn a Best Original Song nod.

“I just didn’t want to argue anymore,” he says. “I was going with their program; I wanted to do the material they gave me, not be one of the many cooks doing the writing. There were a lot of cooks who shouldn’t have been cooking but were allowed to.”

While Franco confesses that assigning blame is not enjoyable, he has raised eyebrows by seemingly throwing those he worked with under the bus.

“As far as having low energy or seeming as though I wasn’t into it or was too cool for it, I thought, ‘Okay, Anne is going the enthusiastic route. I’ve been trained as an actor to respond to circumstances, to the people I’m working with, and not force anything,’” he recounts.

“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. I felt kind of trapped in that material. I felt, ‘This is not my boat. I’m just a passenger, but I’m going down and there’s no way out.’”