UPDATE: The story is now being officially confirmed by the Academy, in a press release sent to us a few moments ago. James Franco and Anne Hathaway are your new hosts of the Academy Awards.

James Franco and Anne Hathaway are both in the conversation for this year's Oscar nominations, he practically a guaranteed nominee as Best Actor for 127 Hours, she a longshot for Love and Other Drugs. But what if they guaranteed their time on the stage by hosting the whole thing instead? According to Deadline, the Academy has asked the two to host the February 27 ceremony together, making it another duo-hosted ceremony after Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin got a positive response last year.

Obviously the two have a much younger appeal than many hosts of recent years, and as one of the Academy's many stunts to try and bring in younger viewers, it's not one of their worst ideas. Hathaway was great in an "impromptu" duet with Hugh Jackman at the awards two years ago, and Franco has proven himself an affable, funny presence on the 127 Hours press tour, even if no one quite knows what to make of his many college degrees and his General Hospital stint. Still, it would be incredibly odd for the host of an Oscar ceremony to also be one of the nominees-- even though Franco is likely to lose the Best Actor trophy to Colin Firth, he's still very much in the running, and would have a lot of juggling to do between his "honored to be nominated" face and his "hey everybody, welcome to the Oscars!" face. It's an interesting tension, sure, but does it make for good TV?

Of course, these are just offers, and who knows if either Franco or Hathaway will actually take the gig. It's a good sign, though, that the Oscars producers are consistently willing to shake things up in order to keep the ceremony from getting too stale year after year. I'm someone who would watch the whole thing even if it lasted 8 hours, but I know some of you guys like going to bed before midnight on Oscar night and not falling asleep during the Best Animated Short awards. Wimps.