In a move that may be a little reminiscent of Major League Baseball's attempt to bring in a younger audience by introducing a Justin Bieber video before game 3 of the 2010 World Series, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that this year they're going young.
On Monday, Nov. 29 2010, the Academy announced that the 83rd Academy Awards in February 2011 will have the youngest host the show has ever had and third youngest as actors Anne Hathaway, 28, and James Franco, 32, will co-host the show. Diana Ross was 30 when she co-hosted the 46th Academy Awards in 1974 with John Huston, Burt Reynolds and David Niven.
Each Host of 83rd Academy Awards Could be up for Oscar
In another departure each host could be up for an award. Hathaway was a woman in the grips of early-onset Parkinson's in Love and Other Drugs and could be nominated in the Best Actress category. In 127 Hours Franco played the American mountaineer Aron Ralston, who in 2003 was forced to sever his own arm with a dull knife in order to free it from being trapped underneath a boulder. Franco is considered a favorite to get a Best Actor nomination.
"James Franco and Anne Hathaway personify the next generation of Hollywood icons - fresh, exciting and multi-talented," the producers of the show, Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer said jointly in a press release. "We hope to create an Oscar broadcast that will both showcase their incredible talents and entertain the world on February 27."
The nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards will be announced Jan. 25, 2011 at 5:30 a.m. PT. The Academy Awards ceremony will be on Feb. 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.
James Franco and Anne Hathaway Not Strangers to Oscar Night
Franco has been a presenter on the show once. His film career includes roles Eat, Pray, Love, Milk and Pineapple Express and he played Harry Osborn in the Spider-Man trilogy. Hathaway has been on the awards show four times and was nominated in the Best Actress category in 2008 for Rachel Getting Married. Some films she has starred in include The Devil Wears Prada, The Princess Diaries and Alice in Wonderland.
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin co-hosted the ceremony last year, the first time two men co-hosted since Donald Donald O'Connor and Fredric March co-hosted the 26th Academy Awards in 1954. Martin had hosted the show twice before while Baldwin had never hosted before.
Billy Crystal: Hosted All-Time Highest Ranked Oscar Show
Last year 41.62 million people saw the 82nd Awards, the first time audience numbers went over 40 million since 2005. The highest rated Oscar show was the 70th in 1998 with 57.25 million viewers; the host was Billy Crystal and the year's Best Picture was James Cameron's Titanic.
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