In recent years there have only been a handful of faux pas at the Oscars that are still talked about today. One of those was the announcement of the wrong best picture winner - 'La La Land' instead of 'Moonlight' - in 2017. Another was when James Franco and Anne Hathaway hosted the Academy Awards in 2011.

Most will recall the awkwardness of James Franco and Anne Hathaway as a pairing. It was most notable in their opening monologue, not that the night particularly improved from there.

You can relive it and cringe below.

Podcast The Ringer recently sat down with the writers for the ceremony, ten years on from when it took place.

They indicated that events behind the scenes hinted that the show was headed for trouble from early on.

David Wild was one of the writers that year.

He said: "It was like the world's most uncomfortable blind date between the cool rocker stoner kid and the adorable theater camp cheerleader."

James Franco and Anne Hathaway were chosen because of their appeal to younger viewers. However they had never worked together before.

There was a month of prep ahead of the ceremony.

Jordan Rubin, another writer on the 2011 Oscars, said: "Anne made herself readily available.

"I went to her house and worked on the script and she was on a bunch of conference calls and responding to emails and was a great collaborator."

Megan Amram, who consulted on the ceremony, added that she and Anne discussed the material after the actress pulled her into a storage closet.

"She wanted to make sure it was positively reflecting women," Amram noted. "I remember thinking that it was amazing that this was important to her and weird that I was in a closet with Anne Hathaway."

James Franco had earned a nomination for Best Actor that year for '127 Hours'. During the weeks ahead of the Oscars, he was shooting movies as well as teaching classes at various universities.

According to Rubin: "He always seemed to be on a flight and it was very hard for me to get a hold of him.

"That was a red flag."

Comparing the two actors, Rubin said: "[Anne] showed up ready to play and committed 110 percent.

"And [James] was a great guy but often looked like he had just woken up from a nap. It's almost like you're showing up to a tennis court and one person decided that they were going to play in the U.S. Open and the other wanted to play in jeans and just kind of hit a few balls."

Franco "wanted to play it as a buddy-cop movie with two opposite characters."

Some friction developed between the pair when Hathaway offered him an acting suggestion during rehearsals, said the writer.

"[She] was like 'Maybe you should try that,' and he was like 'Don't tell me how to be funny,'" Wild said, adding that the moment wasn't overly contentious.

The writers agreed that throughout the process, Franco and Hathaway simply never bonded.

This year's Oscars (which goes hostless - probably just as well) take place on April 25th.