A Few Impressions
I Love William Gay’s ‘The Long Home’
My new favorite writer is William Gay. His writes about a community of backwoods Tennessee characters entangled by geography, blood, competition, greed, love, and vengeance. The thing about Gay is that he’s the strange twin brother of Cormac McCarthy...
Cowboy Film Stills
So we did this series of photos and poems based on Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills. It was JANE’s concept, but I actually shot the pictures. He got all the credit, and they ended up selling for like $15,000 each.
From the 2014 VICE Photo Issue: From Off to On
From Off to On is a photo series by German photographer Marina Rosa Weigl. It's like Asger Carlsen meets a Lynchian interpretation of Black Sabbath's Paranoid.
Catfishing with Nev Schulman and His New Book, 'In Real Life'
Where does reality end and begin? If our bodies and physical circumstances are only half of what we are, when we take on another layer of personality, what does it matter that it is digitally altered?
The Power of the Past in Cormac McCarthy's 'Wake for Susan'
My adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s third novel, Child of God, is in theaters tomorrow, so I wrote about McCarthy's first published short story, “Wake for Susan,” to show that he has had a fascination with death since the beginning and is the...
Watch James Franco's Short Film, 'The Clerk's Tale,' Based on a Poem by Spencer Reece
Watch my short film The Clerk's Tale, which is based on a Spencer Reece poem about working at a Brooks Brothers in the Mall of America, exclusively on VICE.
James Franco’s ‘Blood Meridian’ Test
In honor of the release of Child of God on August 1, I’m posting a 25-minute test I did for the film version of Blood Meridian, starring Scott Glenn, Luke Perry, Mark Pellegrino (Lost), and my brother, Dave. If you know the book...
This Montreal Camgirl Gets Paid to Masturbate
Melody Kush used to be just another Canadian girl living in Montreal trying to get by working barely over minimum wage. Today she is an internet superstar living off the money she makes from masturbating in her bedroom.
Watch Michael Shannon Fuck a Corpse in James Franco's Short Film 'Herbert White'
Watch my short film Herbert White, which is based on a Frank Bidart poem and stars Michael Shannon as a necrophiliac, exclusively on VICE.
Adapting 'Blood Meridian'
I have always wanted to adapt Cormac McCarthy’s great novel into film. Many have tried and failed. I dreamed about adapting it, never thinking that it would happen. If Tommy Lee Jones couldn’t do it and Ridley Scott couldn’t do it, how could I?
James Franco's Summer Movie Picks
Some movies to watch between the blockbusters full of explosions, men in tights, and aliens on the big screens