Scoff all you want at James Franco‘s tireless productivity, but he’s using very minute of every day to its maximum potential. Speaking with Variety, he revealed the very simple reason he rolled up both sleeves and committed himself to doing as much as possible.
“I’ve been looking back on that a lot and going, ‘Why was I doing that?’ I was generally just doing things I was interested in,” Franco said, reflecting on his work so far. “At some point maybe eight or ten years ago I just flipped this switch and said, ‘You know what? Maybe this is the only life I have. I don’t want to follow any sort of tacit understanding of what a career looks like in this business so I’ll just try a lot of things.’ I tried to take them as seriously as possible. I went to school and tried to not just be a moonlighter. And I think the good of that period of just doing way too much is I got a lot of experience. I had learned early in my career, just from working so hard at acting and having that pay off, that you do have to go through a certain amount of paces. You’ve got to work at it.”
With “The Disaster Artist” landing in cinemas, THR reports that Franco is using the momentum to add another project to his plate with “A Boy Name Shel.” He’ll be directing and starring in the adaptation of Lisa Rogak‘s book about the tumultuous life of the man who wrote “The Giving Tree.” Here’s the book synopsis:
In A Boy Named Shel, Lisa Rogak tells the full story of a life as antic and adventurous as any of his creations. A man with an incurable case of wanderlust, Shel kept homes on both coasts and many places in between—and enjoyed regular stays in the Playboy Mansion. Everywhere he went he charmed neighbors, made countless friends, and romanced almost as many women with his unstoppable energy and never-ending wit.
His boundless creativity brought him fame and fortune—neither of which changed his down-to-earth way of life—and his children’s books sold millions of copies. But he was much more than “just” a children’s writer. He collaborated with anyone who crossed his path, and found success in a wider range of genres than most artists could ever hope to master. He penned hit songs like “A Boy Named Sue” and “The Unicorn.” He drew cartoons for Stars & Stripes and got his big break with Playboy. He wrote experimental plays and collaborated on scripts with David Mamet. With a seemingly unending stream of fresh ideas, he worked compulsively and enthusiastically on a wide array of projects up until his death, in 1999.
Chris Shafer and Paul Vicknair, who penned the Chris Evans vehicles “Before We Go” and “Playing It Cool,” will write the screenplay. It’s probably a bit of a way off from filming, but it’ll be interesting to see Franco take on another true life story.
