James Franco: The Gay Man's Actor

Franco Eight Ways? Coincidence?
Photo courtesy of advocate.com

     Yes, these magazines just can't get enough of James Franco. But we totally saw this one coming. The Advocate, too, has written their version of the actor's profile, but it has one focus in particular. Yes, you guessed it: is James Franco gay?

     The Advocate is an LGBTQ magazine focusing on all things gay. So it comes as no surprise that their profile centers around the actor's controversial tendency towards gay roles.

     "In addition to the two gay-themed poems he adapted for student films (Frank Bidart’s “Herbert White” being the other), Franco portrayed a 17-year-old swimmer dating an older man in the gay indie film Blind Spot and Harvey Milk’s lover in Milk. He also French-kissed Will Forte on Saturday Night Live, took a queer studies course at NYU, and created performance art pieces about gender and sexual confusion."

     He also is starring as gay poet Allen Ginsberg in the anticipated upcoming film, Howl.

     Some of the highlights? The writer, Benoit Denizet-Lewis, asks Franco why he is so inspired to take on gay roles. Franco: “In this history of cinema, there are so many heterosexual love stories,” he whispers. “It’s so hammered, so done. It’s just not that interesting to me. It’s more interesting to me to play roles and relationships that haven’t been portrayed as often.”

     Valid point. Franco seems to enjoy taking risks and challenging himself. If he were gay, he'd probably be the type to play straight just to push the envelope. Franco also approaches his roles with a ferocity that is almost unheard of with the exception of actors like the late, great Heath Ledger. Franco even admits in the profile that his intensity made it difficult to work with him, even going so far as telling directors how to do their job.

     “I used to approach acting with a very antagonistic [attitude],” he says. “I was very hard to get along with, and it made working in film very unpleasant. It also hurt my performances. Now I think about acting differently. I feel a little detached from acting, actually. I still work really hard, but for my own sanity—and everyone else’s—I’ve had to surrender the results.”

     My conclusion is this: James Franco is gayer than Lady Gaga but not quite as gay as those guys who say "no homo" after every sentence. He has a fascination with sexual confusion and homosexuality, not for entertainment purposes, but by merely accepting that "We’re all gender-fucked—we’re all something in between, floating like angels.”

     But how does this compare with the other profiles? Tune in soon and see how the three compare.