David Edelstein on James Franco’s lackluster performance in Oz The Great and Powerful:

To prove he’s a wizard, he has to kill a certain wicked witch, along the way picking up a sidekick monkey that flies and talks in the voice of Zach Braff. I’ve seen few actors as unconvincing as James Franco when it comes to staring down and talking to a creature to be computer-generated later — and Franco doesn’t just have to act opposite that insufferable monkey but also a sassy talking China Doll. It’s not that Franco is bad. He doesn’t risk enough to be bad. My guess is that with all his stammers and shrugs opposite actors playing it straight, he’s trying to be a cowardly hipster like Bob Hope in the Road pictures — or Woody Allen, who actually cited Hope as an inspiration, in Sleeper. But Franco doesn’t have the jokes. He’s playing a noncommittal character in a noncommittal way, so that he sort of floats above the role. You want to yell, “This isn’t a performance-art project! You’re carrying a movie!”

Image of James Franco in Oz, The Great And Powerful courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures

James Franco just sold a $10,000 non-visible piece of artwork called “Fresh Air.”

Last year, James Franco was actually on a visible radio show, also called “Fresh Air.”

Natalie Portman, Danny McBride, James Franco and Zooey Deschanel star in a medieval sword-and-sorcery spoof that strays often into beyond-kinky territory — and plays it so resolutely straight that the profane seems downright divine.

James Franco, on the reason why he acts, juggles classes, and writes (among other pursuits): “If there’s something I like, it’s hard for me to not engage with it fully.” [full interview here]

Tomorrow: We continue a Friday series of interviews about films nominated for Oscars. We hear from James Franco, who is nominated from his role in 127 Hours and will be cohosting the ceremony. And we listen back to an interview with Tom Hooper, who directed The King’s Speech.

terrysdiary:

James Franco on the cover of the new issue of Candy… shot by [Terry Richardson.]

I wish I saw this two days ago to post with the James Franco story.

James Franco

I’d like to keep talking but you’re going to be late for class.

— Terry Gross to James Franco, who is juggling an acting career, a writing career, and classes at both Yale University and the Rhode Island School of Design.

“I loved the Beats and I had been reading them since I was about 15, and ever since I got into acting I always dreamed about doing a movie about the Beats. But I never thought that I would play Allen. I always thought I would play [Jack] Kerouac or [Neal] Cassady.” — James Franco, on his role as Allen Ginsberg in the movie Howl. (Franco also discusses his other movie roles, his writing, his graduate career and his time on General Hospital.)

Our guest today: James Franco.

Tomorrow: James Franco.

Ann Marie Baldonado: Day 3 at the Toronto Film Festival

From left to right: author and adventurer Aron Ralston, actor Clemence Poesy, Actor Kate Mara, Actor James Franco, Actor Amber Tamblyn, Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy, Director Danny Boyle

Yesterday, hundreds of press and industry folks waited hours to see a guy cut off his own arm.  Sure, the real life story of Aron Ralston — a young man whose gets stranded in a Utah canyon for 5 days when his hand gets stuck underneath a boulder — is certainly compelling. But I think it is safe to say that the reason people waited was because 127 Hours is the work of director Danny Boyle, a Toronto favorite who showed Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire here two years ago. Also at the screening — perhaps the busiest man in film or anywhere — actor/director/writer/artist James Franco (I mean, the guy is about to start two graduate programs after just finishing two.  Come on now.)  Thankfully for those of us who waited, Boyle and Franco didn’t disappoint.

It’s not suprising that Boyle managed to not turn this into a TV movie, although this tale could certainly be TV movie fodder.  Both Boyle and Franco used the actual tapes that Ralston made during those 5 days to prepare for the film.  And their attention to little details (the way Rolston placed the few items of his backpack neatly out onto the boulder, portioned out the little water he had in his Nalgene, and carefully contemplated his attempts at escape…) created a sort of authenticity that the film needed in order to be successful.  Franco’s great one-man performance, along with the use of flashbacks that get dreamier as the hours pass on, give a lot of movement to a story that is essentially about a guy standing still, talking to himself, trying to keep himself alive.

The real life Aron Ralston is here in support of the film, and is just as compelling in real life as his fictitious counterpart.  127 Hours is scheduled to hit theaters later this year — and James Franco will be on Fresh Air later this month to discuss his role in the film.

The mob scene in front of the press and industry screening of 127 Hours, directed by Danny Boyle, starring the always-busy James Franco.  A problem with subtitles at another theater made a bad situation worse.  The screening is already running an hour late.