Image = James Franco, The Great and Powerful

James Franco is having a truly great week.  He got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame two days ago and his hugely anticipated Disney behemoth Oz The Great and Powerful opened yesterday.  And my question – through the lens of image is – what is his deal?  I just don’t get this whole James Franco phenomenon.  He’s nothing special in my humble opinion.  He’s arguably a nice looking guy who is a moderately talented actor, but that’s it.  Yet his image is enigmatic, conceited and superhuman and he is very well-respected.  Many actors do other things besides act, which is understandable because creative people often do multiple creative things.  Robert DeNiro is also a painter, Robert Duvall is an accomplished Tango dancer and many actors have bands, but James Franco does A LOT of other things.  Here are two descriptions of Franco’s astonishing education from IMDb:

{…when he went back to UCLA to finish his undergraduate degree in creative writing, he was worried that his classmates and professors might think of him as "sliding by" because of his acting career, so he took a lot of extra courses to make sure they knew he was serious. He told Gross that the cap on the number of units that a student is allowed to take in a quarter was 19, but in his last quarter he took 62 units - which as far as he knows is a record for a single student.}

{…may perhaps be one of the most academically accomplished actors (an "extreme scholar") in Hollywood history: besides his BFA in English from UCLA, he has two MFA degrees - both in writing - from Columbia and Brooklyn College, and a third MFA, in film, from New York University.  He is continuing further degree studies while also teaching a graduate class that takes students through the process of making a feature-length film. (2011).}

Now, I went to college & grad school and busted my ass during certain semesters with 15 or 16 credits.  How in the world did he manage 62 credits?  This doesn’t sound impressive; it sounds utterly preposterous.  I don’t care how smart you are – it’s inhumanly possible.  And what’s up with the numerous master’s degrees?  Being a famous Hollywood actor isn’t enough?  What is he trying to prove?

And why is he hailed as such a great actor?  I’ve seen a few of his films and have never been blown away.  Milk is an extraordinary film with a great script and what I call a transcendent performance by Sean Penn who totally deserved his second Oscar.  By contrast, Franco played Penn’s boyfriend, doing an okay job in an amazing movie and won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor.  Meanwhile, Emile Hirsch was tremendous as Cleve Jones and didn’t even get an Indie nomination!  Which makes me ask again, what’s up with this James Franco idolatry?             

 

James Franco and his Mini Me getting their star on the Walk of Fame

Maybe it’s me.  Maybe I’m missing something.  But I don’t think so.  Franco’s image is confusing - definitely on the Hollywood A-List and simultaneously pretentious and elusive.  Makes me think about that Groucho Marx quote,“I wouldn’t want to be part of any group that would have me as a member.”  He gets a lot of criticism from the press about looking half asleep all the time (like when he hosted the Oscars) and for being self-congratulatory.  He held the Oz doll based on his character to his Walk of Fame honor and the headline about it on The Huffington Post read “James Franco is Incredibly Proud of James Franco” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/08/james-franco-star-walk-of-fame_n_2836348.html.  I find the dichotomy of his fame & adoration fascinating.  He’s only been famous for a little over 10 years now (since his breakthrough role as James Dean).  Was it really that urgent to give him a star right now?  Or was it just part of Disney’s marketing for Oz?  It is not easy to play both sides of the fence in Hollywood and come out a winner, but James Franco is doing a great (and powerful) job.