Then there’s another story—and this is third-hand, I can’t stress enough how little stock should be put in its veracity or whatever—involving a life WTF podcast event Marc Maron hosted at South by Southwest with Spring Breakers director Harmony Korine and James Franco and a couple other guests, and Maron made some joke about how seriously Franco takes himself. Franco responded to this by taking offense, according to Maron and others in attendance. Not exactly what someone who truly does not take themself seriously tends to do when such a jab is made. So I don’t know what to make of that
None of this is meant to say conclusively whether James Franco is one of our national treasures or a national joke. He’s probably closer to the treasure side, if we had to rate him on a scale, right? He’s no Jennifer Lawrence but he’s no Mel Gibson. There are just these hints of tidbits of information that pop up about James Franco that on some days induce eye rolls and on others, fistpumps. For every “you go, girl!” there tends to be a corresponding “dude…” And this is confusing for folks like me (and Stephen Colbert) who prefer to have something set out for us in black and white, this guy is cool or lame, a great actor or a waste of time. Facetiousness aside, it’s probably a good thing for stars like James Franco to retain an air of mystery and keep us on our toes, so that we are able to be pleasantly surprised at movies like Rise of the Planet of the Apes. And without movies like Oz, this probably wouldn’t be as rewarding. Despite any reservations I have about his work on screen and in life, I’m really looking forward to seeing James Franco in This is the End.
Do you have complicated feelings about James Franco that you want to work out? Well, we have a comments section below where you can do just that. Go nuts, man.