In a Wall Street Journal column that probably got a B+ when it was first handed in as university coursework, James Franco asserts that what he’s been doing in his guest-starring role on General Hospital qualifies as performance art. With his character “Franco, just Franco,” Franco says, “I disrupted the audience’s suspension of disbelief, because no matter how far I got into the character, I was going to be perceived as something that doesn’t belong to the incredibly stylized world of soap operas. Everyone watching would see an actor they recognized, a real person in a made-up world. In performance art, the outcome is uncertain—and this was no exception. My hope was for people to ask themselves if soap operas are really that far from entertainment that is considered critically legitimate. Whether they did was out of my hands.” Hmmm. Well, judge for yourselves in the clips below.
So is James Franco a performance artist or an actor who took a role in a soap opera? Are the two mutually exclusive?
Sidenote: I’m loving the piano teases of “Mad World” in there — if you’re wondering, yes: At the end of October 19′s episode, it is Adam Lambert singing over a dramatic montage of abandoned booze bottles and newspaper clippings.
Honestly, I think having him on GH demonstrated that it isn’t the actors fault. With more time, money and better scripts, soap actors (at least, most of the ones on GH) could be as well respected as James Franco because so far, he hasn’t risen above the limitations the other actors deal with.
Loving this POV!!
After reading what he wrote, my interpretation:
He’s going or just finished school right? He took a masters performance course and prob a critical studies course. And in between waiting for classes and lectures, he caught GH on tv in the mess or rec room, he thought,”I’ve won a golden globe right? I was in the supersmash Spiderman, so how effing funny would it be if I did something as ridiculous as a soap opera? OMG, I gotta call my agent.”
Yes! I thought the same thing!
i find his choice… interesting…. thats all i can pretty much say.. isnt that the girl Locke hatcheted in Lost???
It is!!! I was wondering where I knew her from!!
Oh yes, thank you! I couldn’t think where I’d seen her before.
I dont think the 2 are mutually exclusive(performance art and acting)
Franco is a odd bird… but in the best possibly way. I think, in his mind, everything has the potentially to be art, and I like that about him.
Agree completely.
What a dopey storyline he was given.
Sopranos lite.
What crap!
UGH, that is what GH is all about now a wannabe Sopranos (which they are so not). It is the Sonny Corinthos Show. But I do give credit to James Franco. What AList movie star would do a soap in the prime of their career?
That dope who plays Sonny has to be the worst actor in Hollywood right now.
I thought they stopped reading off of teleprompters?
James Franco has been GREAT on GH, and the story and his character are very interesting IMHO. I did not watch the show before, but with James starting right after Jonathan Jackson returned, I will be watching all of the Franco storyline. Kudos to the team at GH, and James for this cool role.
read his artcile in the WSJ. he has serious cred. respect.
I love General Hospital and the storylines have been awesome lately. Franco has been a welcomed and delicious addition! I also love Carolyn Hennesy who plays Diane. She is awesome! Laura Wright who plays Carly is a wonderfully talented actress. I could go on…
That was the most awesome episode of “Sesame Street After Dark” ever. Seriously… what is up with the cheap azzz set??
The girl, who was on Lost, was also on Las Vegas.
I noticed that.
She seems like shes in it for the wrong reasons. Franco (the last name, not the character) seems to be in it because he can. He’s using his status to get something he wants. How many of us wouldn’t find it mind-blowingly funny and interesting to do an episode of one of these shows? Well, all he had to do was phone up and ask.
Susan- I love Carolyn/Diane too. Have you seen her on Cougar Town with Courtney Cox?
yes, she’s a fab actress!
What a pretentious little article. It’s not performance art if you just call it performance art, there has to be something you’re actually trying to communicate or express. James (an actor famous for being in 3 superhero movies) appearing in GH is not questioning people’s perception of “legitimate” entertainment. He needs to stop taking bs college classes.
All right, yes he is known from Spiderman, because those movies made a gagillion dollars and a lot of people saw them. However he is also quite well known from less popcorn fare, like the beloved cancelled too soon Freaks and Geeks, Pineapple Express (pretty funny, IMHO if you like stoner humor) and the critically acclaimed Milk that was released last year. So A-List might be a stretch for Franco, but he’s definitely not just that guy from Spiderman and in the pecking order is miles above soap actors. Which is why this story keeps getting so much press.
Come on, James Franco’s not only known for Spiderman. A lot of people discovered him in Freaks & Geeks and other stuff and appreciated him for them. Anyway, never watched GH but I think having him on it make them good advertisement cause if I was in the US I would probably have tried to see what it looks like (I kinda like the music, though !! :p)
Just awful. Between the high school stage set, the obnoxious loud footprints, and the cheesy acting I don’t see how people sit through this stuff.
As a long time soap viewer I appreciate him bringing attention to the genre. A lot of what everyone thinks about soaps is true, but those stereotypes really only describe soaps at their worst. People overlook that there are some phenomenal actors on soaps, that they are the hardest working actors (they have more lines to memorize each day than other actors due on entire projects), and that any show would get tiresome and repetitive if it was had to produce new content 5 days a week.
Whether it’s performance art or not, props to James Franco for paying respect to an area of acting that is highly underrated.
Tim Burton who plays Jason Morgan is a REALLY good actor. It will be really interesting to see him and Franco together on screen.
Hahahahahaha.
Really good actor?
For what?
Having that same pissed off look on his face everytime he’s on camera?
Or even stuttering his lines as bad as Sonny?
Pathetic.
It’s Steve Burton actor on GH, Tim Burton is the producer…I do agree though Steve, Kelly and Laura Wright and Maurice Bernard love their acting!
It’s STEVE Burton, who plays Jason
LMAO @ “In a Wall Street Journal column that probably got a B+ when it was first handed in as university coursework…” That totally sounds like some crap I would have written in college.