That’s it, my crush on James Franco is official over. Franco will be on Letterman tonight. A preview (above) has him talking about his about his disastrous gig as Oscar host and refusing to take any responsibility for failing so miserably. He says he wasn’t stoned, that he just looked mellow compared to Anne Hathaway’s bubbly personality, and that “I actually played those lines as well as well as I could.” ORLY? Then he goes on to bitch about how everyone paid attention to him in the first place. We’ve heard the same sh*t from so many douches before. I’m surprised he doesn’t say “there’s a war on/there are natural disasters/the government budget crisis affects us all.”
For the first time since hosting the Oscars, James Franco is addressing rumors that he was stoned during the gig. In an interview on ‘The Late Show With Dave Letterman,’ airing Thursday evening, [sic: it airs tonight, Friday] the actor reveals why he appeared so low energy.
“People said I was under the influence,” Franco said during his ‘Late Show’ interview, which airs tonight.
“Now why would they say that?” asked Letterman with a laugh.
The ‘127 Hours’ actor replied, “I’ve thought about it. I think I know why, because–I love her–but Anne Hathaway is so energetic, I think the Tasmanian Devil would look stoned standing next to Anne Hathaway.”
“Truthfully,” Franco added, “and I haven’t watched it back, maybe I had low energy. I actually played those lines as well as well as I could.”
Franco concluded talking about the awards show by pointing out how wishy-washy Hollywood is: “But here’s the hypocritical thing: Leading up 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 won’t shut up about it!”
[From Popeater]
So it’s Anne Hathaway’s fault that Franco was a zombie, and it’s the writers fault that they wrote such bad lines, and it’s everyone else’s fault for paying attention. Read my past coverage of this guy (not Kaiser’s, she’s been right about him from the beginning) and see how I’ve defended him. Yes the lines he was given totally sucked, and even the most energetic host couldn’t have saved that bloated self-congratulatory mess of a show that was in no way entertaining, I still stand by that. But Franco is really showing his true colors here. His first excuse is that he sucked because Hathaway tried too hard (he didn’t say that exactly, but that’s what I got out of it) and his next excuse is an implied one that the lines sucked. Then finally he blames people for caring about it. Not once did he say any variation of “I feel bad, I’m sorry, I was tired, I wish I would have brought it, I misjudged what needed to be done” or “I didn’t prepare enough.” He could have made some little tiny concession that he didn’t do the best job he could or was somehow responsible but there’s none of that from Franco. Again, my crush is officially over and he is that “I went to film school” douche that Kaiser and Lainey have been telling me about. My apologies for ever giving him the benefit of the doubt or finding him charming.
Franco outside the Late Show on 3/28 wearing sunglasses at night. Credit: WENN.com.
Say what you want to say about him, but I love him!!!!!
Oh come on everyone! He is an ACTOR not a PRESENTER. I still like him.
Nooo! Don’t kill my love for The Franco!
It’s choking on his Eau de Pretentious Douche but I will revive it!
Eh, he’s right. Anne Hathaway acted like a drunk teenage girl at a Justin Beiber Concert. She was so annoying she made my teeth hurt.
Thus proving my “He’s a Douche” Theory correct all along. I agree with Kaiser – he’s always been an asshole.
Franco-American gerbils are the most vicious. You can not escape them. Once a meat ball, forever a meat ball.
i think as an actor he is superb, but he’s an egomaniac. he’s teaching a class based n his carer. what more proof do we need?
Can’t stand him. Never could.
If people don’t quit being such assholes to anyone who hosts an award show, nobody’s gonna want to do it! at least they try to make it entertaining.. I wouldn’t want them to think they can’t take chances simply because the public is sooooo damned picky.
HAHAHA!! Yes, my Douche Meter is very finely tuned. And this pretentious a-hole is off the charts.
David letterman asked a really good question “what the hell do you care?”
That’s my thoughts exactly, I think Franco actually cares that people think he sucked at presenting, but really, he’s an actor, him presenting at the oscars has nothing to do with his acting ability or his smarts sooooo whatever.
Plus the oscars do suck.
If the Tasmanian Devil is your touchstone for sobriety, you’re doing it wrong.
[sigh] it is sad but true…oh Franco why couldn’t you just let it go. We would have forgotten or strick it down as being stoned…my heart is broken and you will be sorely missed by my southern parts.
I still adore him as an actor
it’s just not classy to sorta dump on anne. anne is a spazz, I grant you all that. But she spazzed out more during the oscar telecast I thought to compensate for Franco being complete dead weight. It’s never a gracious gesture when you do a “I love so and so BUT…” and then explain why you don’t. I mean, man up already, and laugh at yourself for sucking instead of acting defensive.
@lease
Agreed! It seems like most hosts of awards shows get torn apart by the public these days.
Good point. She is a spaz.
@#14 – cara (? its blurry, so I can’t be sure of your name, sorry). ITA.
Tired of Franco at this point, but my love for Letterman is eternal.
Well CB, I only liked him because you talked him up so much. If your pulling your support, I guess I’m out too.
But I disagree that he should own up or apologize for his performance. The lines did suck, the expectations were ridiculous and the criticism stupid. He shouldn’t care.
And he certainly shouldn’t care enough to half toss poor Anne, who had her own and clearly opposite reaction to the same pressure, under the bus.
What a total A$$hat.
I have never liked this douche.
He looks like a gangster in that outfit! I didnt watch the oscars so have no opinion other than I think Anne Hathaway’s mouth always reminds me of Julia Roberts (whom I loathe).
Taflon. I’m in line to blow him. He’s an intellectual and probably doesn’t care what people say.
Oh hells no, he’s trying to pin it on Hathie? Ugh.
Was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt as well but the whiny, bitchy way he’s handling the fallout speaks volumes. Sure the material he was given sucked but he could have handled this with a little class and grace instead of writing childish sh*t on Bruce’s picture (his apology was half-assed and condescending) and now throwing Anne under the bus. I hope his attitude comes back to bite him in the ass.
Take responsibility?! R U kidding me? He didn’t beat up riahana–calm the fuck down!!!!!!!
Don’t feel bad, CB, I’m trying SO HARD to hang onto my Franco crush. But it’s quickly dying.
I think I WANT to like him because he’s 1) hot 2) educating himself.
But he stinks of douche.
Don’t care, still love him. Will love him forever unless he hits Charlie Sheen/Lindsay Lohan level crazy. Then maybe I’ll lose my crush on him. Doubt it though.
ITA cara, I felt like she was trying to make up for him being so dull. Kind of lousy to push it off onto her now, esp since she at least tried.
I like him OK as an actor, but think he absolutely does care what people think – if he didn’t, he wouldn’t always be trying so hard to prove how *amazing* he is at everything. There are a lot of actors who go to school or branch out into other fields but don’t seem to have to remind everyone about it all the time.
I’ve not seen his work as an actor, but just from seeing him in interviews, I didn’t like him.
He just came across like such a jerk. The kind who thinks the world should fall at his feet, & how dare you question him, the peons behind the scenes did it on purpose to make him look bad, because he’s obviously the only one with any talent’.
I never could figure out why he and Hathaway were asked in the first place. The Oscars needs someone like Billy Crystal, who is a seasoned comic that knows his profession inside and out. He and others like him know what will work and what won’t with a situation like that.
I guess they were trying for a younger demographic, but if so, they failed.
i dont see what he said as bad. Im really surprised that when he was chosen to host they WEREN’T expecting to get the character he ALWAYS plays. He always plays a quiet, low energy guy. Who thought that all of a sudden he’d be liza minneli come the oscars. I’m dissapointed in the public for not taking responsibility for their selection.
This is really telling. In the aftermath of all the drama (and even before the trainwreck, which she undoubtedly saw coming), Anne Hathaway has stuck up for him, has cheered him on and has been nothing short of gracious. For him to insinuate that anything failing was her fault – regardless of if he feels that way for real or if it’s true – is really, really tacky. You just don’t do that. It doesn’t look or sound professional, especially when the person you’re talking about has defended you though she really didn’t have to. He comes across even more like a petulant child than he did during the broadcast, which is damn near impressive at this point.
Well, ya’ll can jump ship anytime…I’ll gladly move up a few places.
For those that actually aren’t fairweather fans Letterman had it spot on.
“For you, I think, a modicum of embarrassment…” Which is WHY he won’t admit it sucked. (which it did, by all accounts no matter the reason)
“You’ll go into a period of numbness”. HELLO! His twittermania about nothingness.
“Finally you’ll become, rightly so, defiant”. He has since deleted/put on hold said Twitter account.
Like I said, please exit to the left. You’re holding up the line.
I blame the producers/writers just as much as I blame Hathaway and Franco for that mess. But, if he didn’t “care,” he wouldn’t be scribbling on pics of the writers and dragging Hathaway into his excuses for HIS OWN performance. If it wasn’t what he thought it was going to be (easy, fun, etc), say that. If he was high, say that. Let Hathaway explain Hathaway’s performance.
I’m not a fan of Hathaway, but she did not bring quite that level of…”spider monkey energy” to SNL a few months before (some here even PRAISED her Katie Holmes bit), because she was surrounded by professionals, and wasn’t made to overcompensate for poor writing (which SNL is also plagued with) AND poor support on stage by “going it alone,” in terms of conviction.
Franco’s an actor, not a comedian, but so are Hugh Jackman and Alec Baldwin, and they had just as crappy, dated material as Franco (and probably the same sad writers). But their sobriety, professionalism, and/or dedication have yet to come into question about their performances.
Until I played that interview I had a neutral opinion on him. Now I think he’s a whiny bitch.
He’s playing the “I’ll hide under the obvious” game. Yes, Anne is high energy but that doesn’t really say anything about YOU now, does it?
And Letterman is for some reason kind of sucking up to him. Is anybody else having this impression?
Hey Popeater, I think that name is appropriate. You are like a douchbag who turns your back on a friend as soon as it is in your best interest. Franco is not a comedian like Billy Crystal or Steve Martin. He has not been in situation comedies like Alec Baldwin. Give him a break. So he tried to appologise in a round about way. Can you read between the lines? He said he did the best he could and actually complemented Anne on her energy. It’s just like critics to criticize a young actor for something a crirtic could never do… So, bite me.
‘that’s it’… is exactly what I thought when I saw this article.
He should have come on tv a week after the Oscars and made fun of himself with one or two jokes and the whole thing would have died down by now.
Instead he comes across as a jerk, with a narcisistic complex.
Anne Hathaway has been gracious and people liked how she tried to save the whole thing, but he can do nothing but blame her and others.
Finally, perhaps he’s an actor and not a presentor, but then he should not have accepted to do it. Nobody forced him.
Rachael (#21), Franco cares A GREAT DEAL about what people say. He was supposed to be the commencement speaker at UCLA and backed out at the last minute. Why? Because a bunch of students thought he was a bad choice and created a Facebook group to say so (although he claimed that he had to go over to Ireland earlier than scheduled for Your Highness, but come on–really?).
Maybe Brad Delson of Linkin Park should have stepped in for him at the Oscars, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esQ7WSzJUxk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSlTGW3GDgs
Dude’s a knob. I only allow him to live because of “Freaks and Geeks”.
I don’t think he was any worse than boring tired old Billy Crystal or Ellen.
He duped me too, buddy. I feel cold now. Hug me, Gandy.
James is a douchebag of the highest and has been stuck on himself for awhile
BUT…
Anne Hathaway IS an overeager try-hard and so fucking annoying at times (not just at the Oscars)
They were both awful at the Oscars. Ann was just over the top and extremely fake. Hated both hosts but he’s right she pretended to have too much energy. However, he needs to be a gentleman. Don’t throw a woman under the bus. It makes him look mean and angry. Not very good manners or attitude.
he has a point lol. nevertheless, he was either nervous or stoned
I saw the interview. He said nothing wrong. He was nice and respecting with his words. So many are trying to twist his meaning. He was a gentleman, but, and clearly is stung by all the unfair critisim thrown at him. Anything he says is taken the wrong way to mean something he did not say or mean. I think he’s a good guy.
@Howard Kipfer:
This might be a silly question, but you ARE aware that celebrities aren’t your friends, right?
They are professionals paid to do a job, and if that job sucks, people have every right to stop wanting to watch them work. It’s hardly betrayal.
That said, I still have a fondness for him for his stint on 30Rock.
That fact that it took him this long to respond makes me think he had to make something up.
I Never. Ever. Saw the appeal in this pasty, petty, pretentious man/child/jerk/princess-wannabe.
And I thought the pursuit of education was to enhance one’s growth as an enlightened individual?
But nooo. I WENT TO FILM SCHOOL NYAH NYAH NYAH I’M BETTER THAN YOU, OH OUCHIE PEOPLE DON’T LIKE ME I’LL WHINE TO UNCLE DAVID ON NATIONAL TV!
That guy’s face is all mouth. He looks like Kevin from Home Alone to me.
Sorry, I still blame the producers of the Oscars- He was the same douche he’s always been; Why on earth would they think he’d be different THAT night? And Anne Hathaway is the most vanilla cheerleader they could have found, so again, what did they expect? And, given that Franco ALWAYS tries to whine his way out of criticism, of course he was going to go on shows like Letterman and act like a tool. I get so tired of Hollywood presuming that we’re all a bunch of dolts that they can manipulate. If it walks like a douche, and talks like a douche, IT’S A DOUCHE!
Just shows that those rumors of them not really getting along may have some truth to it.
Anne got on my nerves and yes she was too over the top, but he looked like he wanted to be any place but there.
It’s over anyway. Some great movies were released but man it was such a boring Awards season all around. Can’t recall any of the fashions, speeches or whatever..
hoping 2011 will be better.
This guy is so goddamned overrated.
He looked like a pothead months ago and on the Oscars he was off his tree.
I wonder what Anne Hathaway is doing right now. Wait, no I don’t, because she’s five.
Freaks and Geeks was, what’s the word I’m looking for–who gives a shit? Maybe not as egregiously overprasied as Parks and Recreation (oh, whatever! You wanna fight, I’ll fight! Meet me on Yonge Street, it’s just a damned television show. A character who does nothing but roll her eyes and act like a juvenile abcess and no one has tried to throw her into a pit of overproof fire? What did you call those girls in high school? If you were smart, you didn’t Aloof, contemptuous and lazy, a real asset. A shoeshine boy? Does he live in a van by the river? Gerry=Meg Griffin, tell me how I’m wrong), but it still–I don’t know. Fate forced me read a solid amount of the Domesday Book and By Joe, that was less grating.
Billy Crystal’s re-heated Oscar performances drifted into the area of the unbearable long ago. Sure, red eye can be a problem in photographs, but returning the daguerreotype isn’t the answer. I give him this, at least we never saw him wearing a red velvet suit that made him look like an oversized chunk of endometrium, Ellen!
Smart-but-probably-douchey is my type. I can’t help that I love him
Never understood what his appeal was/is. So overrated.
No matter what he does I’ll still love him. He’s still so charming and sexy.
He’s an actor, could he not have acted like a better host?
It was a strange pairing from the announcement of their hiring: the eager good girl and the pretentious stoner. I thought they must have had some amazing chemistry in person, and that’s why the producers went with it. Turns out, obviously no.
How did they not work this out in rehearsal? Get Hathaway’s energy to level off, and get Franco’s to register? And get someone under age 50 to write the material.
Clearly, the producers were just flailing… “We’ll get two young actors: the princess and the hipster, we’ll please everybody!” Not.
But yes, Franco needs to either not talk about it, or take responsibility. He’s saying this on TV, not in his neighborhood bar.
What a piece of shit douche bag…such a shame he was such a complete jerk as I now have no desire to see his new movie with Natalie Portman and it looks like it would be a good one…but he is such a complete ass, I won’t waste my money.
It kills me to see formerly handsome actors soon resemble stoners. I mean Franco, McConaughey and Pitt used to be such incredibly good-looking guys!? What happend? Their looks seem to literally be going to pot.
I don’t think he was putting the blame on anyone. Love him!
when you go to college,you direct a movie,you act in another movie,you prepare your art exposition,you write a script for your first movie and you party in Sundance fest,you have no time to prepare this little stuff named Academy Award
Count me among those who are officially over Franco. And it pisses me off because I really liked the guy. All he had to do after the Oscar debacle was say something like, ‘I’m sorry if some didn’t care for my performance, I did the best I could’. Sure, it would be a lie…he came out from the jump with a stupid cell phone in his hand and continually posted pics online during the live broadcast…so ‘doing his best’ meant caring more about his twitter feed than entertaining the audience. Still, it would have been acceptable. Instead, he has done nothing but repeatedly reveal himself to a thin-skinned jerk with zero self awareness and an ego bigger than god. So, Anne is responsible for making you seem like you were baked out your mind, eh James? Newsflash, Franco, ANYONE would have made you look low-energy by comparison…a bag of potatoes would have been more animated than you. But, he takes NO responsibility! Also, if he thought he did his best, why did he get out of Dodge so fast? He bailed on his whole family and his own after-party so fast he left skid marks. You made a complete fool of yourself in front of a world-wide audience, Franco. Own it.
My new favorite Franco is Dave.
well said @ Ashley
I can’t beleive they are STILL going on about this…. yawn…..