James Franco
James Franco
James Edward Franco is an American actor and filmmaker. His first prominent acting role was the lead character Daniel Desario on the short-lived cult hit television program Freaks and Geeks. He later played the title character in the TV biographical film James Dean, for which he won a Golden Globe Award. For his role in 127 Hours, Franco was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. He is also known for his roles in Spider-Man, Pineapple Express, Rise of...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth19 April 1978
CityPalo Alto, CA
CountryUnited States of America
There's a tendency, when you're directing yourself, not to give the performance as much care, because you feel like there's too much focus on yourself, or that all these people are just standing around setting everything up, waiting for you.
I guess what I enjoy most is directing, because it incorporates all aspects of filmmaking. Directing is in the same line as acting - both are popularity contests, and in both you're trying to tell a story through the film as a medium.
There's a tacit belief that actors shouldn't write books, they're sort of allowed to direct movies but there will be a lot of skepticism, and they shouldn't do artwork or music. There are these invisible roadblocks to gain entree to these areas for actors, and you kind of have to crash through those invisible barriers.
Because acting was my only professional outlet, I put a ton of pressure on the roles that I did. I overstepped my bounds, I tried to control things that were out of my purview as an actor and in some cases even tried to direct my scenes because I felt I knew how they should run rather than trust the director.
I view filmmaking as a director's medium.
I think I would feel pretty foolish hanging around acting like James Dean with my friends. So I couldn't do that. I had to be away from them. I wanted to get comfortable with that, and the only way I could do that is just constantly do it.
Tristan is full of rage at the Irish for taking his family.
I guess it is kind of a hard sell. But we didn't put the house on it.
My job is what I love. I don't need an escape from it.
One of the things I've learned as a filmmaker is to have some aspect of the movie be something that I admire greatly, whether that's an actor I'm working with, the subject matter, or a book.
My favorite role ever was Alien in 'Spring Breakers'.
I'm a huge Cormac McCarthy fan and have read every book of his.
When I was starting out, doing guest spots on TV, and even commercials, I would go in with a whole crazy wardrobe and some terrible accent. Obviously, I was doing too much. If you bring too much flavor to it, it's absurd. There's something to just being spontaneous.
Um, ... Nobody has a script yet, so...