James Franco

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James Franco in March 2013

James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978 in Palo Alto , California ) is an American actor , director , writer , screenwriter , model , film producer and visual artist . As an actor, he won two Golden Globe Awards (2002 for the television film James Dean , 2018 for the cinema production The Disaster Artist ).

biography

Beginnings, training, private matters

James Edward Franco was born in 1978 as the first of three sons to Betsy Levine Verne and Doug Franco. His mother comes from a family of Russian-Jewish immigrants and his father has Portuguese and Swedish ancestors; they met at Stanford University. His mother writes children's books and novels and has occasionally acted in TV and feature films since the 2010s. His father studied at Harvard after Stanford and was an entrepreneur in Palo Alto. James Franco grew up with his two brothers, Tom and Dave , in Palo Alto , California . He enrolled at the University of California at Los Angeles ( UCLA ) in 1996 to study English . He also took acting courses. He gave up his studies after a year, decided to become an actor and took acting lessons from Robert Carnegie at Playhouse West . In autumn 2006 he enrolled again at UCLA - with a focus on creative writing - where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in June 2008 with a grade point average of 3.5 . His thesis, supervised by Mona Simpson , was a novel.

After moving to New York , Franco was simultaneously enrolled at Columbia University and New York University and Brooklyn College . In 2010 he completed his Master of Fine Arts at Columbia .

In addition to his work as an actor and director, Franco devotes himself to painting . He also published a collection of short stories in 2010 called Palo Alto: Stories .

Career as an actor

Franco (left) on a Blue Angels plane (2006)

Franco starred in 1999 in the television split series Days of Blood - The Dallas Beast , in which three generations of cops try to catch Texas ' most dangerous serial killer . This was followed by a supporting role in Raja Gosnell's romantic comedy Unkissed, alongside Drew Barrymore , Michael Vartan and David Arquette . He had his first big success in the same year with his role in the television series Voll besides, full in life .

In 2000 he made his cinema debut in If Tomorrow Comes with his first leading role. In Garrit Steenhagen's thriller , a young man gets lost in search of his mother, whom he never met, and his father, a petty criminal. This was followed by David Raynr's Hopelessly in Love and the TV movie At Any Coast , in which two brothers decide to form a rock band in Los Angeles .

Franco was cast in the lead role in Mark Rydell's biographical television movie James Dean . With the role of the actor, who became an icon with only three films and his untimely death in 1955 , Franco had great success - u. a. 2002 a Golden Globe Award, as well as an Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Award nomination . The work was a formative experience for Franco: " To portray James Dean was incredible"; "I was concerned at first when I approached the project, but I felt that I would be able to portray its depth well."

In 2002 he was hired for Sam Raimi's comic book adaptation Spider-Man . He originally auditioned for the lead role of Peter Parker / Spider-Man, but was ultimately selected for the part of Harry Osborne as Tobey Maguire got the lead role. He played the son of a wealthy entrepreneur who after an accident in a laboratory to villain mutated. The film opened in the US at the same time as Scott Kalvert's action film Deuces Wild - Wild in the Streets , in which Franco played a supporting role alongside Brad Renfro and Stephen Dorff . This was followed by the crime drama City by the Sea , for which he was hired by leading actor Robert De Niro . In 2003, Franco won a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the Chlotrudis Awards for the independent production . He played in the short film The Car Kid alongside Meat Loaf and on the side of Neve Campbell and Malcolm McDowell in a supporting role in Robert Altman's drama The Company - The Ensemble .

2004 followed again under the direction of Sam Raimis Spider-Man 2 . Here the character of Harry Osborne was further expanded. He blames Spider-Man for his father's death and tries to get revenge on him through intrigues . This film was also successful worldwide and was awarded an Oscar in 2005. Franco worked on seven film projects through 2007 - including John Dahl's war drama The Great Raid - Liberation Day and Spider-Man 3 .

After starring in Kevin Reynolds ' Tristan & Isolde (2006) and in Paul Haggis ' Oscar-nominated drama In the Valley of Elah , the comedy Ananas Express followed , in which he plays the role of the drug dealer Saul, with whom he is, according to the film service succeeded in fundamentally changing his image in public. In Gus Van Sant's biopic Milk he was seen as the lover of Sean Penn , who played Harvey Milk, the first US politician to live openly gay . The two roles brought Franco another Golden Globe nomination for best leading actor in a comedy or musical as well as the Independent Spirit Award . In 2009 he was honored with the Hasty Pudding Award at Harvard University as " Man of the Year ".

At the Berlinale 2010 Franco presented the film Howl - Das Geheul , in which he played the poet Allen Ginsberg under the direction of Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman . In the same year he starred in 127 Hours, directed by Danny Boyle . In the drama, he portrays mountaineer Aron Ralston , who had an accident while hiking in a canyon in Utah in 2003 and only survived because he amputated an arm himself. Franco achieved another Golden Globe nomination for his performance in 2011 , won the Independent Spirit Award and his first Oscar nomination. In the same year he hosted the 83rd Academy Awards with Anne Hathaway .

In the HBO television series The Deuce , Franco has been seen in a double role as Frankie and Vincent Martino since September 2017.

On March 7, 2013, Franco received the 2,492nd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the film category in a ceremony . In 2014 Franco appeared on Broadway in the play Of Mice and Men, directed by Anna D. Shapiro . In the German dubbing it is mostly spoken by Marcel Collé or Kim Hasper .

Activity as a director

Franco delivered the comedy The Ape with his film production company Rabbit Bandini Production in 2004 , which he directed and for which he also wrote the script together with Merriwether Williams . In The Ape ... he also played the leading role - Harry Walker , a young writer who suddenly meets a gorilla in a Hawaiian shirt in his apartment who says that Harry shares his views on life, to have to share about love and animal magnetism . Estimated at a $ 1,000 production cost, the film met with little success.

James Franco again directed and produced the comedy Fool's Gold in 2005 , for which he again wrote the script and also took on the lead role with Merriwether Williams.

In 2010 he presented two homosexual-themed short films , The Feast of Stephen and Herbert White , which he made under his own direction at the Berlinale .

Franco regards his work as a director as a sideline and is quoted as saying, "This [working as a director] is just kind of fun"; "They [the films] are based on plays I wrote with a friend and I use people from the theater company who were on the play, that's an interest I'm slowly developing."

In 2011 and 2012 Franco produced the films Idaho and My Own Private River , both based on the film My Private Idaho by Gus van Sant , a film Franco calls his greatest source of inspiration for his cinematic work.

Other activities

Furthermore, Franco is also active as a visual artist . In June 2010 his first solo exhibition opened in the Clocktower Gallery in New York. Further exhibitions followed, including at MoMA PS1 , where a collaboration between him and the equally versatile Gus Van Sant was shown in 2011 , and in 2013 as part of the Peres Project in Berlin, which showed another solo exhibition entitled Gay Town . In his artistic work, Franco deals with issues of masculinity , homophobia (which he himself was often confronted with because of his homosexual roles), but also with Hollywood , the film industry and his own celebrity. While filming the 3D feature film Every Thing Will Be Fine (2015), in which Franco plays the male lead, Donata Wenders created the film installation "James Reading - Reading James", consisting of photographs and film, which were shown in 2016 in the Weserburg Museum for modern art was on display in Bremen.

Filmography

Actor (selection)

Director

  • 2005: The Ape - On this planet the monkey is entertaining you ... (The Ape)
  • 2005: Fool's Gold
  • 2007: Good Time Max
  • 2009: Herbert White
  • 2009: The Feast of Stephen
  • 2010: Saturday Night
  • 2010: The Clerk's Tale
  • 2010: Masculinity & Me
  • 2011: Rebel (short film)
  • 2011: The Broken Tower
  • 2011: Sal
  • 2012: Francophrenia (Or Don't Kill Me, I Know Where the Baby Is) (short film)
  • 2012: My Own Private River
  • 2013: As I Lay Dying
  • 2013: Interior. Leather bar.
  • 2014: Child of God.
  • 2015: Wild Horses
  • 2016: 11.22.63 - The attack ( 11.22.63 , TV series, 2 episodes)
  • 2016: Stormy Harvest - In Dubious Battle (In Dubious Battle)
  • 2017: The Disaster Artist
  • 2018: Future World
  • 2019: Zeroville

Screenwriter

  • 2005: The Ape - On this planet the monkey is entertaining you ... (The Ape)
  • 2005: Fool's Gold
  • 2007: Good Time Max
  • 2009: Herbert White
  • 2009: The Feast of Stephen
  • 2010: The Clerk's Tale
  • 2010: Masculinity & Me
  • 2011: Rebel (short film)
  • 2011: The Broken Tower
  • 2011: Sal
  • 2013: As I Lay Dying
  • 2014: Palo Alto

producer

Writing activity

Awards

James Franco at the premiere of Spider-Man 3 in New York on April 30, 2007

Prizes won

Golden Globe Award

  • 2002: Best Actor in a TV Series or TV Movie for James Dean
  • 2018: Best Actor - Comedy or Musical for The Disaster Artist

Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards

  • 2009: Best Acting Ensemble (together with Sean Penn and Josh Brolin, among others ) (and nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Milk )
  • 2002: Best Actor in a TV Movie for James Dean

Independent Spirit Awards

  • 2009: Best Supporting Actor for Milk
  • 2011: Best Actor for 127 Hours

Hollywood Film Festival

  • 2008: Hollywood Breakthrough Award for Actor of the Year

San Sebastián International Film Festival

  • 2017: Best Film for The Disaster Artist

Teddy Award

  • 2010: Best Short Film for The Feast of Stephen

Nominations

Oscar

  • 2011 : Nominated for Best Actor for 127 Hours

Emmy

  • 2002: Best Actor in a TV Series or TV Movie for James Dean

BAFTA Award

  • 2011 : Nominated for Best Actor for 127 Hours

Golden Globe Award

  • 2011 : Nominated for Best Actor in a Drama for 127 Hours
  • 2009 : Nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical for Pineapple Express

Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards

  • 2009: Nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Milk (and award for Best Acting Ensemble (together with Sean Penn and Josh Brolin, among others ))

Golden Raspberry

  • 2012 : nominated as Worst Supporting Actor for Your Highness
  • 2020 : nominated as worst actor for Zeroville
  • 2020: nominated for the worst director for Zeroville

Gotham Award

Independent Spirit Award

  • 2017: Nominated for Best Actor for The Disaster Artist

Chlotrudis Awards

  • 2003: Nominated for Best Supporting Actor for City by the Sea

MTV Movie Awards

  • 2009: Nominated in the categories of Best Comedy Actor and Best Film Fight (together with Seth Rogen and Danny McBride ) for Ananas Express
  • 2009: nominated in the category Best Film Kiss for Milk
  • 2008: nominated in the category Best Film Fight (together with Tobey Maguire ) for Spider-Man 3

Satellite Awards

  • 2008: Nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Milk

Saturn Award

  • 2008: Nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Spider-Man 3

Screen Actors Guild Awards

  • 2009: nominated in the category Best Acting Ensemble (together with Sean Penn and Josh Brolin, among others ) for Milk
  • 2002: Nominated for Best Actor in a TV Series or TV Movie for James Dean

Young Artist Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ James' Family ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 27, 2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / james-franco.com
  2. ↑ a b c http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=29673
  3. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4136056/
  4. ^ Rosemary Black: Brad Pitt explores other options. In: Daily News (New York) . August 27, 2008, p. 2 , accessed March 3, 2009 .
  5. ↑ Randi Schmelzer: Smart Set . In: ucla.edu , UCLA Magazine Online , January 1, 2009. Retrieved January 15, 2010. 
  6. ↑ David Kamp: Franco cum Laude . In: Vanity Fair , December 2008. Retrieved December 2, 2008. 
  7. ↑ Sean Evans, Shallon Lester : Side Dish: Write on, James Franco . In: New York Daily News , August 6, 2008. Retrieved September 21, 2008. 
  8. ↑ Paula Froelich, Bill Hoffmann: No Ogling! . In: New York Post , September 10, 2008. Archived from the original on September 12, 2008 Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved September 21, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nypost.com 
  9. ^ Academia: James Franco To Sexify Morningside Heights , Gawker.com . Retrieved September 21, 2008. 
  10. ↑ James Franco To Get Yet Another Degree At Yale? The Huffington Post , March 29, 2010, revised May 29, 2010, accessed February 13, 2011
  11. ↑ See criticism by Jörg Gerle in Film-Dienst 22/2008 (accessed via Munzinger Online )
  12. ↑ CBS-News: "James Franco honored with Hollywood Walk of Fame star" (English) accessed on March 31, 2013
  13. ↑ Jada Yuan: James Franco's Anti-Self . New York News & Features , April 24, 2009, access February 13, 2011
  14. ^ Sven Hauberg: James Franco's own Idaho. (No longer available online.) In: ZEITjUNG.de . July 3, 2012, archived from the original on March 17, 2013 ; Retrieved July 3, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.zeitjung.de
  15. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated June 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.weserburg.de
  16. ↑ http://www.polkagalerie.com/en/expositions-wim-donata-wenders.htm
  17. ↑ 65th San Sebastian Film Festival 2017 Awards In: sansebastianfestival.com. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
  18. ↑ Gordon Cox: 'Get Out' Leads 2017 Gotham Awards Nominations In: Variety, October 19, 2017.
  19. ↑ Hilary Lewis: 2018 Independent Spirit Award Nominations Revealed In: The Hollywood Reporter, November 21, 2017.

Web links

Commons : James Franco  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
personal data
SURNAME Franco, James
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Franco, James Edward (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actor, director, screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1978
PLACE OF BIRTH Palo Alto , California, USA