Oh, You Didn’t Like When James Franco Hosted The 2011 Oscars? Well It Gave Him A Hemorrhoid

It’s been a longtime Hollywood rumor that actors will put Preparation H on their under-eye bags to reduce swelling there. But for James Franco, well, he needed the ointment for its intended purposes after he hosted the infamous 2011 Oscars with Anne Hathaway, the year he was also nominated for Best Actor in 127 Hours.

On today’s episode of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, Franco explains what the immediate aftermath of that night was like for him. Starting around the 1 hour and 16 minute mark, Franco reveals that he almost sang a Cher song during the broadcast, and the helpful advice (that he may or may not have taken) from Judd Apatow, who advised him, “Alright, James. This is your biggest acting performance yet. You gotta just pretend you want to be there.”

He goes on to say that the vibe in the room was a bit different from how viewers were reacting at home, even noting that a producer, “told me that Spielberg came up to him and said, ‘That was great.'” The rest of the world seemed to be on a different page though, and once that clicked, Franco reveals, “I got on a plane right after and went back east because I was in school, and I holed up in an apartment for a week. I  went to my classes and just hid in that hotel and read all the criticism. It was so heavy and so much stress, I got a hemorrhoid. And I remember being in that hotel room, eating the food, hiding out, and just feeling horrible.”

So who do we have to blame for this? Well, General Hospital. His stint on the soap opera is really the reason he landed the role in 127 Hours to begin with. Around the 1 hour and 10 minute mark, Franco explains to Maron that he was in his artsy phase during his first meeting with director Danny Boyle, and while he seemed unenthused about the project at first, Boyle gave him another chance and allowed him to read for the part, script unseen.

Boyle handed him the monologue and granted him two hours to prepare, but Franco came back in 15 minutes, ready to do this thing. “I had been doing General Hospital before then, [filming] 90 pages a day. I could memorize like that!” he explained. “I did it one time and [Boyle] came over, he gave me a hug and he’s like, ‘Alright, you’re in,’ and I got it thanks to General Hospital.”

The soap is also responsible for Franco taking the Oscars gig as well. “When I went on General Hospital, into a place where I didn’t belong, it was interesting to people and I thought, oh it will be the same thing on the Oscars, and it wasn’t. Because people look at the Oscars in a different way than they do a soap opera. But also, I realized in hindsight, that it was a defensive move against the probability that I wasn’t gonna win,” he admitted.

So what has Franco, who could very likely be nominated again this year for acting and/or directing The Disaster Artist, learned from the whole experience? “You know what I should’ve done? Just enjoyed the ride.”

Where to watch 127 Hours