From a stoner to a gay poet, to a rock star. Even though he’s going back to attend graduate school after starring in this summer most anticipated comedy, “Pineapple Express,” modern day Renaissance man, James Franco, insists that his acting career is far from over. In an interview with MTV News, the actor revealed that his next project will be as a bitter lead signer in Mark Ruffalo’s directorial debut, “Sympathy for Delicious.”
Perhaps more notably, Franco will also be playing legendary beat poet Allen Ginsberg in a biopic about his life called, “Howl.” Wait, didn’t David Cross already perfect Ginsberg in “I’m Not There”? The project is being helmed by two time Oscar Award winner named Rob Epstein and Franco will play a young Ginsberg before he went “bald and gained weight,” the actor said. This continues Franco’s exploration of homosexual roles and maybe it’ll get that Apatow gang raising their eyebrows (Remember the, “You know how I know you’re gay?” in 40-Year-Old Viring) A former documentary filmmaker, Epstein won an Academy Award in 1985 for his documentary, “The Times of Harvey Milk,” and Franco just finished playing Sean Penn’s lover in “Milk,” Gus Van Sant’s biopic of the slain, openly gay San Franciscan mayor. It ties in and makes sense, the path he’s taking, yes? Franco has always seemed super comfortable with his sexuality and that’s probably a lot more than can be said about a lot of Hollywood actors.
