Franco Wrap-Up

     Is James Franco a weirdo? Is he a stoner? Is he gay? Is he a wannabe? Is he just a normal guy? These are the questions that the media are dying to answer. Given that Franco is notoriously enrolled in several different schools and has two highly anticipated films coming out this fall, he appears to be one of the most sought-after celebrities in Hollywood right now. And these editorials weren't just satisfied getting regular, standard interviews with him; they wanted to delve deep into the psyche of one of the most complex, mysterious figures in the public eye.

     Thus three different profiles were born in a time span of three months. New York Magazine was first with their epic 6,499-word profile on the Renaissance man. This was quickly followed by Franco covering the magazines Esquire (for their September issue) and the Advocate (for their October issue).

     Frustrations have run rampant about the bandwagon-jumping of these magazines. While many people may think the last two are just rehashing what the first profile already covered, all the profiles all take different angles. Obviously, there are details that are bound to seem redundant if you have read them all. But many people don't know what goes into the making of a magazine. Most likely, all these projects were in the works before any one of them came out.

     Yes, in the blog I posted about the Advocate's profile, I did allude to the Esquire profile regarding the similarity of the picture to the title of the Esquire feature. But that may have been purely coincidence. The thing I liked about the Advocate profile is the abundance of "gay" in the profile. The fact that the interview is taking place while San Francisco, possibly the gayest city in America, is celebrating gay pride is priceless. The profile also goes deeper into why Franco is attracted to homosexual roles, and it actually makes sense.

     At times, the Advocate profile does get a bit too ambitious, however. It digresses from being a profile when it spends more than one page going on about his upcoming movie, Howl. It then tries to pick up about his life and cram details like how he doesn't do drugs, and even a detail mentioned in the NY Mag profile about how, after finding out that a friend of the family had died at the age of four, he burst into tears, exclaiming that he didn't want to die because he had too much to do. It happens.

     Clearly, Esquire had the more dynamic feature, although it did have the most lackluster profile.

     Overall, the Advocate provided interesting details and insights, Esquire was the most entertaining, but NY Mag, in my opinion, really conveyed who James Franco was to the audience. He's a really complicated figure to understand. He's not just an artistic guy who's perplexing to the world because of his decision to return to school after he's made it; he's still a Hollywood figure. Yes, it's admirable that he has so much going on, but he does have a personal assistant to help him with all that, who says that he probably wouldn't eat if she didn't present him with food. He's not a normal college student, or even a typical guy.

     I'm cutting out a lot because I talk too much and I'm trying to wrap it up, but all in all, read these. If you like James Franco, read them. If you don't, read them. If you're an aspiring journalist/writer, READ THEM. Find out how to write about the same thing in a completely different way. Learn from their mistakes, and take away some good tips.

     They're all really good anyway. So, there you go. I've written all that to come to this simple-minded, bland, easy-way-out conclusion. Just cherry.

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.

Octo-Franco (James, That Is)

Classy. Perfect. Yum.

     Esquire Magazine has caught the Franco Fever and decided to one-up New York Magazine with a multi-dimensional feature of James Franco, appropriately titled, "Franco Eight Ways." The feature is comprised of eight different genres of work centered around Franco and his multi-dimensional life.

    The first is a series of five short videos made by Franco's brother, Dave, that show Franco behind the scenes, speaking and laughing very intimately with him.
   
    The second is a snapshot profile of Franco (which, compared to other Franco profiles, is slightly forgettable). Don't let this piece deter you from continuing, because it only gets better.
   
    The feature continues with a short, fictional, risible story entitled "Keep Doing What You Are Doing, James Franco," in which James Franco executes every role. (James Franco watches James Franco on television, reads about James Franco delivering a baby, defusing a roadside bomb, making love to five women. James Franco's roommate, James Franco, comes home from a four-minute mile run, smelling like cologne, and immediately begins multitasking. Humorous. Sends a clear message.

    The third part is a HILARIOUS poem by a person who knows nothing about James Franco, and insists not to be told anything about him.

    Part number four of this feature is called "Four Introductions to James Franco," written by Bill Hader of Saturday Night Live. Hader recalls four different occasions when he was introduced to James Franco. Need I tell you that you will be laughing?

    Next are visuals from Franco's first solo art exhibition. Not quite as interesting as the others.

    The Living Art Exhibit is the seventh part, where Franco is takes part in performance artist Marina Abramovic's live exhibition where she sat in a chair every day for seven weeks. Across from her was an empty chair where anyone could sit for as long as they wanted. Franco stops by and participates for just over a minute. (And, damn, does he look good sitting there!) Included also, is a clip of him in the documentary for the exhibit. Interesting.

    The feature concludes with a short story published by Esquire in March 2010, written by Franco himself. The story is titled "Just Before the Black." The story was panned by some critics, who called his writing amateur. The story is about the moment right before you die, and is really not bad at all, considering that it seems to be written in stream of consciousness narrative mode. It seems that critics might have some trouble looking at the dreamy actor as a serious writer, and that may be adding some bias to their opinions.

    The conclusion: It's a good feature. Look at it. Pick up the issue. Rip out his pictures. Put it on your wall.