Anne Hathaway initially turned down hosting the Oscars.

Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway

The 'Serenity' actress and her co-presenter James Franco were widely criticised when they anchored the 2011 Academy Awards and she admitted she only accepted the job after being "convinced" by the 'Pineapple Express' star.

She said: "Hey, can I dish some tea? I turned that gig down and James is the one that convinced me to do it.

The 36-year-old actress was slammed for being over-the-top while James, 40, was blasted for his lack of energy while hosting the prestigious event, and Anne admitted she knew she hadn't got the tone right long before the broadcast went live, but producers had told her she was doing a great job.

Speaking on 'The Jess Cagle Interview' on PeopleTV, she said: "[James] didn't give me anything.

"God, I just remember the night before we're about to go up there, and me turning to everyone and going, 'Am I too much? This feels really big to me.'

"And the producer just went, 'No! Don't do less. Do more if you need to.' And I was like, 'Oh okay, I guess it's going great.' And I didn't realise what was happening about that whole thing."

The 'Ocean's 8' star - who has two-year-old son Jonathan with husband Adam Shulman - wishes she'd stuck to her instinct not to accept the job because even if she'd been a great host, she still wouldn't have received credit for it.

She said: "When all the dust settled, I was just like, 'You gotta be kidding me. Your first instinct is usually the right one.'

"And all the reasons why I turned it down came true. All of them. It's just a no-win situation. You're not trained at this, how is this going to enhance your life? All of the reasons why.

"Even the people who do it spectacularly well -- like Hugh Jackman, Jimmy Kimmel, Ellen DeGeneres -- usually just get a 'meh' from everyone. It's a really hard gig to stick the landing on."