Outrageous funnyman Sacha Baron Cohen was first-time Oscars producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman's first choice to host the 2010 Academy Awards.
The movie moguls eventually agreed that Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin should co-host the big night, but only after Academy bosses laughed off the idea of the Brit comedian's characters Borat, Ali G and Bruno showing up onstage at the Oscars.
Shankman reveals, "The Academy swatted it (idea) down. They thought it was too big of a wild card."