LOS ANGELES, Feb 23, (RTRS): When the producers of the Academy Awards settled on the idea of staging the Oscars as a visual journey through movie history, they decided the hosts should be young, energetic actors who could pull it off.
Come Feb 27, viewers will see James Franco, 32, and Anne Hathaway, 28, travel back in time in an ambitious opening montage and become immersed in a digitally-enhanced “virtual” set. To kick off Oscar week, The Hollywood Reporter corralled Franco and Hathaway for their first interview together.
Ricky Gervais made some enemies at the golden globes. And at the 2005 Oscars, Chris rock singled out Jude law and did a whole bit on how he was in every movie. A lot of people think it hurt law’s career. Any zingers planned?
Hathaway: I hope Chris Rock never says that about me. I can guarantee that if you’re looking for someone to call people out, we’re not your hosts. I think that humor is really difficult to pull off, and I’m not particularly adept at it. I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing it. Also, I don’t mean to sound overly serious, but I am the youngest host in history and I have no business being cynical or calling anyone out. I certainly haven’t earned the right to do that.

How involved have you been in the creation of this new plan for the show?
Hathaway: The show was pretty much laid out when we were asked. We were given a presentation. So we knew the concept behind the show and what the moving parts would be. We’re not writing the jokes or the scenarios but we are collaborating with the writers to figure out what fits. It’s so different doing live comedy, that’s kind of the scariest thing about it. Being funny in a movie usually has to do with how committed you are to your character. But standing up and telling jokes is not something that comes easily to me.
You must have watched some old Oscar shows. Got any favorites?
Hathaway: Jack Palance, man. Jack Palance doing the pushups (on the 1992 telecast), I can watch that forever. And the way Billy Crystal incorporated it into the show. “Jack Palance just bungee-jumped off the Hollywood sign.” “Jack Palance is now in space.” All these kids from Peter Pan did this really sweet, earnest song, and Billy Crystal comes out and says, “Jack Palance fathered all those children.” (Laughs).
Who’s given you the best advice about hosting?

Hathaway: Alec Baldwin, when I ran into him a couple weeks ago, said “the thing to remember is, it’s not about you.”
Franco: I talked to Jon Stewart. He’s done it twice (in 2006 and 2008). He said he felt a little weird doing it because he didn’t feel like he was exactly from that world. He talked about this with Letterman too, and they are comedians, talk-show hosts, and here they were presenting to film people and they kinda felt like outsiders. Because of that, it wasn’t necessarily antagonistic, but there was some sort of disconnect. He said we’ll be fine because we’re more insiders, though I feel like kind of an outsider.
You’re a nominee (for “127 Hours”). Doesn’t get much more insider.
Franco: Oh yeah, I forgot.
Do you feel less pressure now?
Franco: Well, nobody is shy about saying Colin Firth is going to win. I’ve accepted that. By hosting, it makes it easier to go to the events and not feel like a total schmo.

Also:
LOS ANGELES: Could monkey-masked Banksy invade the Oscar ceremony like a short King Kong? “Sure he could,” says Academy president Tom Sherak. But don’t bet on seeing Banksy even if he wins the documentary prize on Sunday.
The always-hidden Banksy, who promoted his nominated film “Exit Through the Gift Shop” with three new L.A. graffiti pieces this week (less scandalous than last week’s first four), began negotiations for his Oscar appearance at the Feb 7 Oscar nominees’ lunch. “That was a five-minute conversation about if they won how it would be handled,” says Sherak. “How we could be comfortable and they could be comfortable. He wasn’t there. That we know — he could’ve been the waiter at the table. How would we know? His reps were very, very open, nice, trying to work with us.”
Banksy wants to attend the show in a mask, perhaps his monkey mask. “We said if he wants to come up of course he should come up. No, we’d rather he not wear a mask. There’s no rule. We asked him to respect the night and respect the honor.”
So should everybody in their monkey suits at the Kodak Theatre be looking over their shoulder for Bansky in a gorilla mask? Cheeky monkey! Don’t bother. What’s likelier is that someone may be designated to accept on his behalf, which ordinarily happens only when someone dies (e.g., his family collecting Heath Ledger’s Oscar). Perhaps the Academy will let Banksy designate a recipient, since his career would die if he showed his face.
Some say the Academy should welcome Banksy’s mask. “Half the women over 40 in Hollywood are wearing masks,” says an Oscar campaign advisor.