James Franco
I Love William Gay’s ‘The Long Home’
My new favorite writer is William Gay. His writes about a community of backwoods Tennessee characters entangled by geography, blood, competition, greed, love, and vengeance. The thing about Gay is that he’s the strange twin brother of Cormac McCarthy...
Cowboy Film Stills
So we did this series of photos and poems based on Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills. It was JANE’s concept, but I actually shot the pictures. He got all the credit, and they ended up selling for like $15,000 each.
Catfishing with Nev Schulman and His New Book, 'In Real Life'
Where does reality end and begin? If our bodies and physical circumstances are only half of what we are, when we take on another layer of personality, what does it matter that it is digitally altered?
The Power of the Past in Cormac McCarthy's 'Wake for Susan'
My adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s third novel, Child of God, is in theaters tomorrow, so I wrote about McCarthy's first published short story, “Wake for Susan,” to show that he has had a fascination with death since the beginning and is the...
Watch James Franco's Short Film, 'The Clerk's Tale,' Based on a Poem by Spencer Reece
Watch my short film The Clerk's Tale, which is based on a Spencer Reece poem about working at a Brooks Brothers in the Mall of America, exclusively on VICE.
James Franco’s ‘Blood Meridian’ Test
In honor of the release of Child of God on August 1, I’m posting a 25-minute test I did for the film version of Blood Meridian, starring Scott Glenn, Luke Perry, Mark Pellegrino (Lost), and my brother, Dave. If you know the book...
Watch Michael Shannon Fuck a Corpse in James Franco's Short Film 'Herbert White'
Watch my short film Herbert White, which is based on a Frank Bidart poem and stars Michael Shannon as a necrophiliac, exclusively on VICE.
Adapting 'Blood Meridian'
I have always wanted to adapt Cormac McCarthy’s great novel into film. Many have tried and failed. I dreamed about adapting it, never thinking that it would happen. If Tommy Lee Jones couldn’t do it and Ridley Scott couldn’t do it, how could I?
James Franco's Summer Movie Picks
Some movies to watch between the blockbusters full of explosions, men in tights, and aliens on the big screens
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...
Bungalow 89 - A Short Story by James Franco
Bungalow 89 is not famous like Bungalow 3 (Belushi) or Bungalow 2 (Rebel Without a Cause). It is only famous in my own mind, because it’s where I first met Gus Van Sant, and because I have been living in it for the past nine months.