James Franco: “Don’t do a movie you wouldn’t see or don’t believe in, because movies can be hell to make”

James Franco is an interesting nut to crack.  He’s alternately wonderful (127 Hours) and infuriating (his stint as Oscars host, Your Highness, allegedly not really earning all the college degrees he seems to get every other month) to observe, and it’s hard to decide whether I respect him as an artist or shrug off his efforts to become a pretentious renaissance man.

Still, one thing Franco is that’s refreshing is honest.  He’s also known to sometimes say negative things about projects he’s involved with, which is no more evident than in article he penned for Newsweek in which he points to deciding to star in his 2006 film, Tristan & Isolde, as a mistake. 

Franco recalls that he wasn’t passionate about the project to begin with, explaining, “I was an overzealous young actor and wanted to make great movies. I read the script and wasn’t sure about it, but my acting teacher said it was a role that a young Brando or Olivier would do.” Read more