I feel about James Franco the way we’re apt to feel about an old boyfriend – don’t want to get with that anymore but (and don’t lie) you want to know the goods: what does he do, did he gain weight, is there a girl/wife, is she as cute as I am?
In Franco’s case, even though he’s no longer at the top of the Five List, the curiosity is still there, and it’s not like he’s receded from the spotlight either. Franco is working steadily, and “art-ing” even more steadily, and has a supporting role in Eat Pray Love, soap opera-ing, and several movies slated for release the next few months, a book launch next year, he’s now as famous for being a movie star as he is for his overloaded schedule.
There’s the recent article in New York Magazine – click here to read about how he took the journalist into the urinal, and all the winking that unfolds after that. And now Esquire is all over it, featuring him not only on the cover, but in 7 forms in the magazine representing, I guess, his diverse endeavours: a poem, a short story, another short story (his own), an interview/profile, a mock memoir by SNL’s Bill Hader that is hilarious, an art exhibit (his pieces), and a video project by his very own brother Dave Franco, also an actor. We’ll get to that later.
But you should read the interview/profile first. It’ll set you up for his exchange with Dave. We find out in the first few paragraphs that James is reading Twilight. Why? Because of course eventually he wants to write children’s literature. Then he pulls out two Polaroid cameras and instructs the writer with him to start “documenting”. That they can “document” together, because all “documentation” is worthy of analysis. Or something. And somehow the reporter finds this “unpretentious”. Click here for that.
After you’ve enjoyed the article, move on to the video.
It’s actually really adorable in parts. I don’t have a sibling, but so many of my friends have younger siblings so I’m familiar with the expression on James’s face in the opening clip: that indulgent smile, both of them giggling – it’s very cute, and I enjoyed this part very much.
My favourite though is the sequence during the photo shoot. Fans of Franco will probably argue that he’s genuine, or that he’s f-cking around, when Dave asks him if he ever, you know, just sits around and does nothing. I however am the bitch who believes that James is truly fronting, major eyeroll here, that he doesn’t know the meaning of the Loaf – on the couch, letting your mind just go, no thinking no brain work, emptiness. Never. Not James Franco. There is too much to be discovered.
It’s a lot of amazingness. You have to watch it all the way through.
The entire Franco Esquire jizz issue, click here and follow all the arrows. By the way, Franco is Team Edward.
