[Tara]

http://tvguidemagazi...ranco-3099.html

General Hospital Welcomes James Franco
by Michael Logan November 05, 2009 03:37 PM EST

Daytime soaps are the Rodney Dangerfield of show biz, but they’re getting big respect these days from James Franco. The unpredictable film star (“Milk,” “Pineapple Express,” the “Spider-Man” trilogy) asked to do a role on General Hospital and execs at the ABC soap hungrily obliged. Franco hits the air November 20 and will be seen in at least 15-20 episodes spaced over two months.

“There have been reports that James is doing this to research a movie role but it’s just not true,” says GH head writer Bob Guza. “As bizarre as it sounds, he really wanted to do a soap and we didn’t go easy on him. His first day on the set we shot 130 pages. In the movies, that’d take six months! The memorization alone was a killer, but James has been fantastic.”

At least he had no trouble remembering his character’s name—it’s Franco! The actor has not yet granted interviews and much about the role is hush-hush but here’s what we do know: Franco will be connected to the mysterious C077X graffiti tag that’s been popping up all over Port Charles. He’s a psychotic yet self-deprecating artist who is fixated on death and will zero in on Jason Morgan, the heartthrob mobster played by Emmy-winner Steve Burton.

“Franco is fascinated with Jason and what he does for a living—he thinks they both love death and are essentially the same kind of guy,” Burton reports. “But then Jason refuses to meet with him and that’s when things start to go south.”

Though Burton and Franco share the same personal manager, the two actors had not met before Franco reported for his first day at GH on October 30. “Obviously, the guy has no ego because he’s doing a soap,” Burton notes. “People were afraid about the workload on him and, to tell you the truth, I don’t think he knew what to expect. But he’s been very cool to work with, very easy. The stuff we’ve shot so far is great and it’s only going to get better.”

Despite Franco’s A-list film status, he’s known for nervy, offbeat career decisions: He recently enrolled in a class on queer cinema at NYU and popped up in a Saturday Night Live sketch in which he didn’t have any lines. It’s just been announced that he’ll guest-star on 30 Rock. And he’s already asked to extend his GH adventure. “We’re mixing James up with as many of our major characters as possible and creating a big umbrella story that will continue to play out after he’s gone,” says Guza. “He’s very excited and wants to do more. There’s a very good chance he’ll be back.”
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I'm excited that he may extend. I need Brenda in this storyline already.

[D_wsb]

he hasnt even aired and i'm like more! more! EEEEEEE

[Alessa]

i cant wait for franco, i love him!

[Cyberologist]

Alessa, on 05 November 2009 - 06:33 PM, said:

i cant wait for franco, i love him!

Oh I'm a HUGE Franco fan
way before he became famous
and he's absolutely gorgeous, mesmerizing

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=RR9A4vNB3nY

and owns any scene he is in just exudes sexy and
he can act his bum off...

it will be interesting to see
those who won't be able to handle him
there will be some GH actors he will
wipe the floor with..he's just that good..

we have bets on who will fall by the wayside...


EXCLUSIVE: The Real Story (and the Mastermind) Behind James Franco's Soap Opera Career Move
Written by Kyle Buchanan | 12 Nov 2009, 7:20 AM | 7 comments

What do you think of what’s been shot so far? Have you gotten to be on set for it?
I think it’s really mind-blowing. I’ve seen some of the stuff that’s shot, and it’s really unbelievable. Yeah, I have been on the set doing some stuff. We’ll see how it goes.

Does his character’s storyline on General Hospital intertwine at all with your film?
General Hospital — or a soap opera in general — is part of the film we’re working on, but it’s not a giant part of the narrative. It’s not going to affect the way the film turns out to be.

Now, how did you meet Franco?
He was an admirer of my visual work, my paintings. So we met that way, through my work.

And when you asked him to collaborate with you on Erased James Franco, you found him to be game for the idea?
Oh yeah, from the very beginning. It was very bizarre because I was asking someone to do something very strange, this thing I had described in this film. Once we got over that, it was very easy because he was very open to it and totally got it. I don’t know if a lot of people would. I don’t know if they would be that trusting and let someone, you know, fuck with them. [Laughs]

Is there something about him that makes him the ideal muse for this ongoing project?
The simple answer is that we’re friends. We get what we’re doing, and that’s half the battle. In a bigger sense — James Franco in quotes — I don’t know how that’s important. Our working relationship and our friendship is what really gets us to do what we’re doing. It’s a very intimate thing to work on a film with someone, especially when it’s something so personal.

When you shot Erased James Franco, it was right before Pineapple Express and Milk came out. How does the fact that he’s become more of a celebrity since then — and that his public image has gotten more defined — affect your work?
It doesn’t affect the way that I approach him, but it might affect the way other people see what we’re doing. It’s a very good question and it’s impossible to answer because an image is a constantly shifting thing — not just in a relationship, but in a career. So I don’t know. [Laughs] We’ll see what happens.



More of the Interview
http://www.movieline...star.php?page=3