Keeping It Real

Like his role models James Dean and Marlon Brando, James Franco doesn't want to reveal too much. But that doesn't mean the actor who appeared in Spider-Man and will next be seen opposite Robert De Niro in City by the Sea doesn't let a few things slip out.

My first glimpse of James Franco is at a photo studio in Culver City, where he slouches in a chair across the wide empty loft space between us. From that distance, one can understand why director Mark Rydell cast him to play James Dean in a TNT biopic. Franco has the look down, from the wavy brown hair to the squinty eyes to the sensuous pout and wry off- center smile.

Franco's day is almost done. After the photo shoot he gets to talk to me, and then go home for a good night's rest before flying off to Australia to begin shooting his next picture, The Great Raid, based on a true story about the rescue of American WWII soldiers held captive in the Philippines. It's been a busy time for the young actor, ever since he nailed playing James Dean last year (and went on to win a Golden Globe award for his efforts).

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He followed that with a small part in Deuces Wild, then a bigger role in the wildly successful Spider-Man, where he got to play Tobey Maguire's best friend and the son of the Green Goblin (played by Willem Dafoe). Dafoe may have met his death, but Franco will appear in the sequel ("We signed contracts," he says). Now, Franco has two more films coming out: City by the Sea, in which he stars as the troubled son of cop Robert De Niro, and Sonny, Nicolas Cage's directorial debut in which Franco plays a male prostitute.

I know very little about Franco from reading previous articles about him because he never seems to open up. He left his home in Palo Alto when he was 18 to attend UCLA. After a year, Franco dropped out to join Robert Carnegie's training ground Playhouse West, study with a few painters and pursue acting. ("Painting is wonderful because it's so private," says Franco. "You're not beholden to a director or a producer. But acting has been really saving to me. It's so expressive and free.")

While on his journey to immerse himself in as many liberal arts as possible, Franco landed a few acting jobs. He worked on the TV miniseries To Serve and Protect, did an episode of "Profiler" and got cast in the high school drama TV series "Freaks and Geeks," which earned wonderful reviews but was canceled in less than a year. However, the series did bring Franco enough exposure to get him an audition for the James Dean movie.

Excerpted from "Keeping It Real" Movieline, September 2002

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