Anne Hathaway’s Oscar hosting tip for NPH: ‘Do the opposite of what I did, and you’ll be fine’

It’s a select group of performers who have hosted the Academy Awards.

Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Ellen DeGeneres and … Anne Hathaway and James Franco?

Yes, that unlikely due was chosen to host the 2011 Academy Awards and it did not go well.

The Academy was hoping to hook into a younger demographic with the youthful pairing.

So when Hathaway, who won an Oscar of her won two years later, was asked by The New York Times what advice she had for this year’s Oscars host Neil Patrick Harris, she kept it simple: ‘Do the opposite of what I did, and you’ll be fine.’

‘I think it’s so obvious that it doesn’t even need to be identified,’ she added. ‘He’ll be great. He’s a natural host.’

Although Harris has never hosted the Academy Awards, he has hosted the Tonys four times and the Emmys twice. He will be the first openly gay man to host the Oscars which will take place on 22 February in Hollywood.