James Franco Slams Oscar Writers for Being “Not Funny”

He wasn't happy about that whole dress-in-drag at the Oscars thing

By Beth Stebner



James Franco is still a bit bitter about that whole Oscars thing.

In this month’s issue of Playboy (yes, Playboy), Franco obviously has some beef with his slightly unsatisfactory co-hosting of the Oscars with Anne Hathaway.








“I don’t know why you hired me, because you haven’t given me anything,” Franco told producers. “I just don’t think this stuff’s going to be good.”

Franco was upset the producers cut a segment where he was to dress in drag and play Cher, but when the song from “Burlesque” wasn’t nominated. Producers still wanted Franco to dress in drag, this time as Marilyn Monroe.

“Me in drag as Cher trying to sing like her is a thing,” he told Playboy. “Me in drag is not funny.”











“There were a lot of cooks who shouldn't have been cooking but were allowed to,” Franco said, referring to the producers and writers of Hollywood’s Biggest Night. Apparently, some choice Judd Apatow jokes were tossed out like yesterday’s soup.

For a while, Franco was Hollywood’s golden child—starring in soaps and scoring an Oscar nod for his work in “127 Hours.” Not to mention his superb acquisition of advanced degrees (resume: NYU, Yale, Rhode Island School of Design, University of Houston), and his work as a writer and artist.

Many critics touted Franco’s performance for being unenergetic. To that, Franco said he was trying to compliment Hathaway’s bubbly, energetic route.

“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," he said.

"I felt kind of trapped in that material.”