Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
If there’s one thing to look forward to in the second half of 2017, it’s James Franco. You won’t be able to escape him — and this is a good thing.
While technically released at Christmas time 2016, Why Him? kicked off Franco’s Super ’17, with him at his absolute, shirtless best. It’s how we all enjoy him the most: maybe stoned and definitely silly. Available now on Amazon Video, it’s a perfect rental when you want to bask in James at his crazy, cussing, comedic finest.
But let’s get serious, because he’s about to, too. Last week saw the addition of I Am Michael to Netflix, a 2015 drama based on the real life story of Michael Glatze, a gay man who is now a Christian pastor and identifies as heterosexual. Franco stars as Glatze in movie that is as effective as it is due to his performance. As he moves from romancing Zachary Quinto’s Bennett, to suffering through heath scares, and then dismissing homosexuality, you’ll feel angry and befuddled and yet a little bit impressed at his performance. Few other actors can sway from sweet to defiant to timid to annoying with as much ease as Franco does here. This is not just a movie about how hot Franco can be…but there are tank tops and MySpace references and also a scene where he snuggles a puppy, so I suppose it’s not without its highlights.
I Am Michael is a notch above the handful of less-than-memorable Franco films currently available on Netflix (Every Thing Will Be Fine, Memoria) but is most importantly a nod to the caliber of projects we can expect from him later this year. In between the TEN other projects slated for release in 2017, The Disaster Artist will be an interesting experiment. Franco stars as Tommy Wiseau of The Room fame, and the rest of the cast is simply a who’s who of comedy’s biggest stars today (Alison Brie, Lizzy Caplan, Zac Efron, Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Bryan Cranston). With The Room appealing to such a specific movie-loving audience, will The Disaster Artist hook the average viewer that has never heard of the cult film? Will the cast draw them in? Or will it be Franco’s surely dedicated performance, once again depicting a real person, but in a much different way than I Am Michael.
More than a few of Franco’s upcoming genre-spanning projects are likely tied to the students that take his filmmaking and acting classes and can expect a straight-to-internet release. But if you’re looking for that buzz factor, look no further than The Deuce, HBO’s fall drama from The Wire’s David Simon that finds Franco playing twins in the story of ‘70s and ‘80s Times Square New York City: aka porn central. Expect Maggie Gyllenhaal to steal a scene or two here, but Franco as twins? Come on, how could you NOT watch?
Franco has put his attending multiple colleges at the same time, falling asleep in class, starring in soap operas as a “art project”, and frequently publishing poetry books side of himself on hold for just a moment. Now, he’s focusing on people seeing his work and taking him seriously — and it’s not an art project this time. “Mainstream” is a word that can so infrequently be associated with Franco’s vast work, let’s be real. But don’t be so quick to dismiss him as a silly stud, either. This year, he’s grabbing our attention, and he’s doing it on purpose.
