As if the 2011 Oscars couldn’t get any worse, Anne Hathaway claimed that James Franco was rude to her during their infamous co-hosting gig ten years prior.

The disorganized show was one of the worst Academy Awards shows ever in history. This ultimately came down to its polar opposite hosts, according to some of the writers involved.  In a recent oral history of the incident, author David Wild described it as “the world’s most uncomfortable blind date between the cool rocker-stoner kid and the adorable theater-camp cheerleader.”

Although Hathaway was brought on board at Franco’s request after initially declining the role, the writers concur that she gave the job her all. “Anne made herself readily available. I went to her house and worked on the script, and she was on a bunch of conference calls and responding to emails and was a great collaborator,” producer Jordan Rubin recalled. “[Franco] always seemed to be on a flight and it was very hard for me to get a hold of him. That was a red flag.”

When they started recording the ceremony’s opening, the writers were aware of issues. “She showed up ready to play and committed 110 percent,” Rubin said. “And he was a great guy but often looked like he had just woken up from a nap. It’s almost like you’re showing up to a tennis court and one person decided that they were going to play in the U.S. Open, and the other wanted to play in jeans and just kind of hit a few balls.”

When the Princess Diaries actress handed her co-host a message during rehearsals, there was a moment of tangible tension, according to Wild. “Again, this is a memory, but [she] was like ‘Maybe you should try that,’ and he was like ‘Don’t tell me how to be funny,'” Wild said.

Even though jokes and segments were added or changed just days before the ceremony, the telecast as a whole went about as smoothly. Rubin insisted that Franco wasn’t “stoned,” despite the widespread perception among viewers at home. “I even don’t think he drinks.”

In one instance, Wild mistakenly believed that Hathaway and Franco would eventually be by themselves: “I was like, ‘Oh my God, they finally broke through and he’s looking at her!'” It turned out that Franco was actually grinning at his replacement while Hathaway was in his dressing room.

According to Rubin, Franco hoped for a dynamic akin to “a buddy-cop movie with two opposite characters,” but both actors wound up receiving harsh criticism from critics and viewers. Hathaway received criticism for going too far, while Franco received the opposite.

Later, the fateful hosting gig was discussed by both parties. According to Franco, he “honestly played those lines as well as I could” on Letterman.

“We got a lot of shit for it. I probably got more than she did, but she got a lot,”  Franco told New York Magazine in 2016.

In regards to her cohosting role with James Franco in 2019, Anne Hathaway said to People, “He didn’t give me anything. When everything was said and done, I was just like, You’ve got to be kidding me; your gut feeling is usually correct. And every justification for declining it came to pass. they are all. Simply said, there is no way to win.

Evidently, the annual awards event has grown from its errors. The Oscars won’t have a host this year for the third consecutive year.