What Happened to James Franco?

Last Updated on May 21, 2024

For most performers, building up a resume of over 150 projects is something that takes an entire lifetime to achieve, but for James Franco that is a feat he has accomplished at just 45 years old. This Freaky Geek was catapulted to fame in one of biggest comic book franchises of all time before settling in to his role as a performer who can take on any genre and any film no matter how big or small. But with a tremendous rise at such a young age, sometimes you don’t make the best decisions. For Franco, those bad decisions would come to light on the very night of his greatest professional achievement and begin a downfall that is sadly all too common in today’s world. At one point putting out up to 12 projects a year, Franco has taken a backseat as allegations against him began to pile up. It is time we examine the career and find out just WTF Happened to James Franco!

Freaks and Geeks

But as always, we must begin at the beginning, and the beginning started on April 19, 1978, in Palo Alto, California. When most people get into acting, they go in head first and start auditioning immediately. But Franco knew he wanted to study the craft before making a serious run at it, so he spent a year and a half training and taking acting classes before he began auditioning. Luckily, his first gig came quickly when he was cast in a Pizza Hut commercial before landing guest spots on shows like Pacific Blue and Profiler. But it would be 1999 when Franco, and several other prominent stars of today, had his actual break-out role… in a series that was cancelled after airing just 12 episodes. After having a supporting role in the Drew Barrymore film Never Been Kissed (1999), Franco would be cast as the bad boy in the short-lived yet cult classic television series Freaks and Geeks. The show premiered on September 25, 1999, and received solid critical acclaim yet only garnered around 7 million viewers, which in today’s world would be a genuine hit, but in 1999, it was seen as not very good. Despite the show’s cancellation, Franco and his cast mates would be nominated for Best Performance in a TV Series- Young Ensemble at the Young Artists Awards.

But even with a failed TV series on his resume, Franco was on the verge of something big. We don’t often associate TNT with made-for-TV movie career makers, but for James Franco, playing another actor named James would be the big break he was looking for when he was cast as James Dean in the film of the same name. When cast, Franco took the job seriously; having never smoked before, he became a two-pack-a-day kind of guy, as James Dean was, while also learning to ride a motorcycle and play several instruments. He even isolated himself from his family and friends, saying that Dean had this pervasive loneliness to him that he wanted to feel. That work paid off when Franco was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award and an Emmy Award while winning Best Actor in a Motion Picture Made for TV at the 2002 Golden Globe Awards and Critics Choice Awards.

Spider-Man and Stardom

In 2000, Franco graduated to the world of blockbuster films when he went in to audition for the role of Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, in a new film directed by Sam Raimi. Although he didn’t land that job, Raimi felt he would be perfect to portray Parker’s best friend who ultimately becomes his mortal enemy: Harry Osborn. Although there had been comic book films prior to this, Spider-Man can directly be attributed to the genre becoming what it has become. Not only was it the first film to ever open above $100 million at the domestic box office ultimately taking in $825 million worldwide. But that wasn’t the only film you could see James Franco in 2002; he also had roles in Deuces Wild, City by the Sea and a lead role in Nicolas Cage’s directorial debut, Sonny. After appearing in the 2003 film The Company, Franco would return to the world of blockbusters for the 2004 follow-up Spider-Man 2, the rare sequel that is widely regarded as superior to the original. In this one, Franco could really show the transition in his character. Whereas in the first movie, Peter Parker has the character ark of who he was to who he is, for Franco’s Harry Osborn, he was able to perform that ark over the course of three films, with this movie being the one that does a lot of the heavy lifting as he grapples with the fact that Spider-man killed his father, finding out that his best friend is Spider-Man and ultimately realizing what he has to do to avenge his father. In a big summer blockbuster film, Franco delivers an independent film’s level character performance.

With the mainstream success of the Spider-Man films, Franco would land leading roles in films such as The Great Raid (2005), Tristan & Isolde (2006), Annapolis (2006) and Flyboys (2006), the problem was none of these films really hit at the box office, pulling in just a combined $73.6 million worldwide. Franco would also pop up in smaller roles in films such as The Wicker Man and The Dead Girl. The Holiday, An American Crime as well as reuniting with his pals Judd Apatow and Seth Rogan for a cameo in Knocked Up. However, Franco’s biggest success, although the numbers and reviews may not support that claim, was when he decided to step behind the camera and make his directorial debut with the 2005 film The Ape. Granted, Variety did call it “Self-indulgent,” and it never received a theatrical release; it did start Franco down the path of directing, which some would say he certainly got better at as time went on.

Back on the big screen, Franco would finally get to go full villain in Spider-Man 3 when the ark of his character was complete, and he was able to fill in the mantle of his father and become the New Green Goblin. As a series, Franco was kind of the true star as we witnessed a true transformation from the best friend to the mortal enemy. But for Franco, I think he wasn’t super comfortable in those big blockbusters. He is more of an indie kind of guy, and so he would step back behind the camera for 2007’s Good Time Max, although audiences didn’t seem to enjoy that one giving it just a 49% audience score. He would finish out 2007 starring opposite Tommy Lee Jones in the under-rated In The Valley of Elah that was a timely film about the Iraq war and post-traumatic stress disorder when it was released in 2007. By this time, Franco was a pretty big star, so it was a bit of a shock when he decided to head back to TV, but not just any TV… Daytime Soap Opera TV when he appeared in over 30 episodes of the long-running General Hospital , playing a character named Franco.

James Franco and Seth Rogen

After appearing in the romantic comedy Camille, Franco would re-team with Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen for the film Pineapple Express (2008), where he played a stoner drug dealer. The R-rated film would be a much-needed success for Franco, who needed one outside of the superhero genre, pulling in over $100 million off a mid $20 million budget with Franco being awarded the High Times Stoner of the Year award as well as being nominated for a Golden Globe Award. He would finish out 2008 with an uncredited cameo in the Richard Gere/ Diane Lane film Nights in Rodanthe before appearing in the critically acclaimed film Milk where he played the much younger lover to San Francisco politician Harvey Milk. Franco said it was a dream fulfilled to be in a Gus Van Sant movie, saying he used to watch Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho obsessively.

Of course, you never know what you will get with James Franco. He would kick off 2010 by starring as Allen Ginsberg in the independent film Howl, which would see Franco nominated for several awards. He would follow that up with a comical turn in the Tina Fey/ Steve Carell starring Date Night before starring in the little-seen Shadows and Lies and a part in the Julia Roberts starring Eat Pray Love and directing the documentary Saturday Night, about the production process of Saturday Night Live. That was also when Franco was seen in the true story 127 Hours (2010) as a hiker who is forced to do something unfathomable to survive. Franco would be heralded for his performance in the Danny Boyle-directed film. He would receive several Nominations for his solo performance, including an Academy Award Nomination for Best Lead Actor. Although he didn’t win the Oscar, Franco would actually step foot on the stage at the Dolby Theater, as he and Anne Hathaway were the hosts for the evening. Sadly, that year, a year in which Franco gave one of his best performances ever, it wouldn’t be the film people were talking about the next day, but the pretty horrible job he did hosting the show.

Theatrically speaking, this is what James Franco does; he mixes up his output from independent character studies that go under the radar to films that grab the attention of critics to blockbuster films aimed at the popcorn-eating crowd with some solid comedies thrown in for good measure. And it isn’t even his name above the title that keeps him going; he is happy to just show up iniend’s a cameo in a fr project without receiving credit. Since 2011, he has had no less than 2 films released each year, with some years seeing up to 12 projects featuring the actor. Whether he has a small cameo in his pal Seth Rogen’s Green Hornet or appears in the comedy Your Highness while also launching the very lucrative franchise reboot Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Then the next year, he shows up alongside Michael Shannon in The Iceman, playing an arms dealer who takes some unsuspecting young ladies under his tutelage in Spring Breakers, appearing on a Nick at Nite telenovela Hollywood Heights and appearing alongside Winona Ryder in The Letter to playing Hugh Hefner in Lovelace followed by reuniting with Sam Raimi and playing the man behind the curtain in Oz, The Great and Powerful (2013) to stepping back behind the camera for As I Lay Dying before starring in what is for my money one of the all-time funniest movies ever made This is the End. It shows that despite Franco many times being featured in very intense dramas, the guy is also a genius comedic talent.

Nonstop work

He would finish out 2013 by directing three more films, Palo Alto, Child of God and the documentary Interior. Leather Bar while also appearing in Third Person and Homefront and, of course, getting the dubious honour of being roasted by those closest to him in the Comedy Central Roast of James Franco and receiving the prestigious star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 2014 would see him take a bit of a break by appearing on an episode of Naked and Afraid before playing himself in the Veronica Mars movie, followed by starring in Good People while directing and starring in The Sound of Fury before almost bringing the United States to war with North Korea with the film The Interview. That’s right, a James Franco/ Seth Rogan film almost created an international conflict. Who says movies don’t have the power to change the world?

2015 would be his big year; 12 movies featuring the actor were released. Granted, most were independent or direct-to-video releases, but all showcased the range Franco has as a performer. Whether in the adaptation of Don Quixote to playing a man suspected of killing his wife and 3 children in True Story alongside titles such as Yosemite, I Am Michael, Queen of the Desert, Everything Will be Fine, Wild Horses, They Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards, The Adderall Diaries, Memoria while voicing The Fox in The Little Prince and having a hilarious cameo as himself in one of the best R rated Christmas movies ever made The Night Before while also appearing as Johnny Penis in the Hulu series Deadbeat.

Franco is a performer who just never seems to slow down; between 2016 and 2019, he appeared in no less than 28 projects, including Sausage Party and the comedy Why Him?, the Giancarlo Esposito directed The Show, Kin, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and the TV series Angie Tribeca while also appearing in and directing episodes of his hit mini-series 11.22.63 and The Duece while also directing the films In Dubious Battle, The Institute, Future World, The Pretenders and Zeroville. Of course, his biggest success in that time came when he directed a film about the making of a film that many deem to be the worst movie ever made. He also starred in The Disaster Artist (2017), which would bring him the respect he had longed for as a director since he began directing. It would be a film that was heralded for not just the direction but also the pitch-perfect portrayal of The Room star Tommy Wiseau.

#MeToo and the end of Franco

On January 7, 2018, Franco took the stage at the Beverly Hilton where the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards were being held to accept his award for Best Actor in a Comedy; that night, he was sporting a pin on his lapel in solidarity with the fight against sexual misconduct. When he took the stage, Franco was experiencing the biggest high of his entire career. What he didn’t know was at that exact moment, a former costar of his, Ally Sheedy, whom Franco directed and appeared in the 2014 off-broadway play The Long Shrift, tweeted that “James Franco just won. Please never ask me why I left the film/TV business.” That tweet, ominous as it was, set off the internet where the 2014 incident where Franco admitted to texting and trying to meet up with a 17-year-old girl. Franco blamed the incident on “the trickyness of social media” while saying he exercised bad judgment. Franco would appear on  The Late Show with Stephen Colbert just 3 days later, where Colbert asked the actor about these allegations and his wearing the pin in the face of the allegations. Franco said he had no idea what he did to Ally Sheedy and that other allegations against him were inaccurate.

Of course, those allegations were just the beginning. A month after winning the award, The Los Angeles Times published a report where five women accused Franco of exploiting his power to coerce these women into unwanted sexual encounters while he was a teacher at the Playhouse West acting school and his own Stage 4 School in Los Angeles with the woman saying that Franco took advantage of their desires to be part of the industry. Other women alleged that Franco would coerce this young woman into performing sexual acts in his films with the thought that it would help their careers. In 2019 two of these women sued Franco for Sexualizing his power as a teacher and employer by dangling potential roles in his projects. Although Franco maintained his innocence, he would reach a $2.2 million settlement in 2021 and admit that he did abuse his power by engaging in consensual sexual encounters with his students. He said that he started the school with the intention of helping students fulfill their dreams of being in show business and not as some sort of sick plan to sleep with woman, but he figured that if the sexual relationships were consensual, then it was okay, not recognizing the power dynamic between an award-winning professional actor and those who are still making their way in the industry.

And those bad decisions made by Franco have taken a toll on his career. As you can tell, Franco was the very definition of a working actor. Every year since his first project in 1997, Franco had something on TV or in theatres; sometimes, he had double-digit projects in a single year. This was a person who genuinely loved working in the entertainment industry and would give it 100%, whether it was a big-budget summer blockbuster or a role on a soap opera. Since winning the Golden Globe and the allegations against him, he has appeared on several podcasts where he talks about his addiction issues, both with alcohol and sex addiction. Franco does have a few films in the pipeline, including a film where he plays Fidel Castro, but the question is: Will James Franco ever get back to where he once was? It seems even Franco’s closest friends had not stuck by him when Seth Rogen said he has no plans to ever work with Franco again. His first movie in many years, The Price of Money: A Largo Winch Adventure, is set to come out in France on August 15th, but seems unlikely to have much of a US release planned, with the first two films in the franchise (which stars Tomer Sisley, who was recently outed for stealing material in his stand-up comedy specials) more or less when DTV in North America. Overall, it seems like a low-key comeback for an actor who was once one of the biggest stars in town. Alas, in a world where people like Louis CK continue to sell out their live performances, it seems like talented people can have resurrections, and as Franco seems to have shown genuine remorse for his actions and has proven he has immense talent, it is not unfathomable that we will see James Franco return to the limelight soon… just as long as he doesn’t ever host the Oscars again! And that is WTF Happened to James Franco.