A Few Impressions
Adapting Anthony Hecht's 'The Feast of Stephen' to Film
Because my film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s book, Child of God, will be released this August, I thought I would publish a discussion I had on my previous attempts at transforming literature into film. Chiefly, my adaptation of Anthony...
James Franco Speaks with Frank Bidart About Poetry
Earlier this spring we asked James Franco to interview the poet Frank Bidart for our June fiction issue. Unfortunately, great work is cut from our print magazine every month, and this was one of the pieces we couldn't fit.
My Friend, Jonah
Jonah Hill is a lovable mensch who embodies so much and has so much more to give. Early on in his career, Jonah was hired to fill Seth Rogen's "Likable Jew with a Fresh Mouth" bucket. But after The Wolf of Wall Street, Jonah is quickly veering...
Paying for Paying for Sex
Chester Brown’s 2011 graphic novel, Paying for It, is a bold examination of straight female prostitution, as well as a cogent argument for its decriminalization, through an entertaining depiction of Brown's own forays into the world of sex...
'The Beast of the East': A Play
I got 200 on my SATs, I’m a fucking idiot, I have no talent except torturing the nerds at my high school who actually made films and did something creative with their time. I want to go to Hollywood and be in pictures. Oh, no, the nerds I picked on now...
James Franco on 'The Bling Ring' and Celebrity Culture
How we feel about fame, what we’re willing to do to achieve it, and why we even want it, is a topic both fascinating and insidious. James Franco contemplates if the Bling Ring teens are just today's punks?
'Three's Company,' a Play
I know, you’re probably thinking, that sexist show about a sex-crazed man and two bimbos in short shorts and tight tops, one dumber than the other, sexual content, homophobic jokes, nagging wives, and stupid physical comedy? EXACTLY.
James Franco on Showing the Dirty Stuff in Movies
Sexual content and sexual addiction are the latest to undergo a transformation in movies, and Nymphomaniac Vol. 1 and 2 is the proof that the subject is becoming less taboo in mainstream commercial venues.
Group as Character in Steinbeck’s 'In Dubious Battle'
As many of you know, I’ve been performing in a Broadway production of one of John Steinbeck’s best-known works, Of Mice and Men, which is why I'm writing about one of his lesser-read works, In Dubious Battle, a novel that is part of...
If James Franco Directed 'Othello,' He Would Lose the Sexism
It is time for a shift in perception about Shakespeare’s Othello. Since its first performance in the early 1600s, the production has gone different permutations.
Broadway, Baby
So you want to know what it’s like to put up a play on Broadway? I’ll tell ya. But, I should note, the way a classic play is put on (specifically John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, in which I am currently starring) is much different from the way...
James Franco Shares a Letter About Hart Crane
James Franco shares a letter he wrote to Alan Williamson of Warren Wilson College while he was working on his film, 'The Broken Tower,' which is about the poet Hart Crane and his poetry.