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James Corden Reveals the Trick to Getting Actors to Be Silly on His Show on the Oscars Carpet

Exclusive: James Corden talks getting celebrities to do bits on his show and brainstorms with Rebel Wilson over how to present their award on the E! Oscars red carpet

By Lauren Piester Feb 10, 2020 12:46 AMTags
James Corden, Julia Carey, 2020 Oscars, Academy Awards, CouplesDavid Fisher/Shutterstock

By now, stars should know that if they're going on The Late Late Show, they're not going to be doing a serious sit down interview. 

James Corden has become known over the years for some incredibly creative bits, which often force actors and musicians to get pretty ridiculous. Sometimes they're reenacting entire filmographies in cheap costumes and wigs, or they're performing musical numbers in a crosswalk, but whatever it is, Corden never seems to have trouble convincing the stars to participate. 

On the 2020 Oscars red carpet, he revealed the trick to E!'s Ryan Seacrest

"Well, our sort of rule is if anybody is worried worried about looking stupid, not to worry, I will look the most stupid," he said. "So I will look stupid first, and that often makes people...

"Follow the leader," Seacrest offers. 

This is Corden's first Oscars, and he's presenting tonight with his Cats costar Rebel Wilson. She kept Corden around for her interview, and the pair seemed to reveal that they haven't got anything planned for their presenting bit. 

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Oscars 2020 Red Carpet Fashion

Seacrest suggested that the two might want to do something funny, but Wilson actually wants to get something out of this gig. 

"I'm trying to get, like, serious roles out of tonight," she said. 

"We're actually thinking of just coming out and crying," added Corden. 

His next idea was to reenact a particular scene from the nominated Marriage Story, where Corden gets to yell "I'm in my 20s!" and then punch a hole in an Oscar (instead of a wall), but we'll have to wait until later tonight to find out exactly what they ended up choosing to do.