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
Both were equally strenuous. I might feel a little sillier swinging the sword, but it's just as hard as boxing. The difference is when you make a mistake in the boxing you just get tapped a little and you shake it off. But with the swords they use real steel. Every actor had cuts on his hands and people get hit on the arms, so it's a little harder.
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 don't know if I could do it. I have a lot of respect for what they do. The 'Annapolis' consultant told us the biggest challenge for most people is the mental shift that's required to go there. And you really have to leave your ego at the door. You know, it's a really different way of life than most people are used to.
I feel like because I've done more gay characters, gay scenes, or gay projects than most straight actors, people see it as some sort of mission. It's more of a case-by-case basis, and just trying to capture figures that I love. I guess that a lot of the figures that I love were gay.
A director on a film really sets the tone of how people go about things, so everybody is happy to be at work and everybody does their best.
I've come to a point where I just want to do movies that I just believe in. I have come to an understanding of filmmaking, a new understanding where I believe it's a director's medium. That means working with people that I believe in.
There's this phenomenon where people do like to announce movies that they think I'm doing that I'm not.
...it can be so boring being you sometimes, and if you were the most special thing like that, it could be really great, but maybe some people say the same thing about you, and you want to tell those people: 'No, you're stupid, it's no fun being me.
When I started writing after my career as an actor, I knew that that other life in the film industry would be pulled into my writing life and that people would see me not as an author but as an actor starting to write.
I start movies with people that I believe in and people with visions, you know, that I believe in. And so if it doesn't kind of come together in the right way, at least I was doing it because I believed in the person and the movie.
If many people love me, then I must be important.
We tell specific stories about ourselves to ourselves and we're all the heroes of our own lives. But you live through certain experiences with other people, and sometimes they have very different takes on what happened.
I've decided I can't really control people's perceptions of me. All I can do is decide on what I work on and how hard I work on it.
When I was younger, I thought, 'Ok, I'm supposed to do this project because it'll help my career,' but that didn't work because I ended up doing movies that I worked really hard on but I didn't really like and they didn't turn out well, so it was like I lost double. Once I just started working with people and projects I believed in, everything changed and I suddenly had a career that I loved and that I was proud of.