30 Things You Didn't Know About James Franco

The star of "This Is the End" leads a, uh, robust life.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Despite his ubiquity, James Franco is still one ginormous mystery. From starring in the comedy This Is the End, like a regular bro, to directing a documentary on BDSM porn, Kink, you never really know what you'll get from the guy. Which is what makes him so fascinating to research. Here are 30 things you didn't know about the 35-year-old actor.

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Jame's mother is half Jewish and half Russian; his father is half Portuguese and half Swedish. James' surname Franco is Portuguese. The couple met at Stanford University, where they were both majoring in Fine Arts.

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Franco's mother was an author, and his grandmother was an artist, inspiring him to start writing and painting in high school. He has since sold some of his paintings to Sharon Stone and Blink 182's Tom Delonge.

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When Franco dropped out of UCLA his freshman year, his parents refused to support him. He got a job at the drive-thru window at McDonalds, and while working there, he would practice different accents with customers.

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Franco eventually returned to UCLA and graduated after two years in 2008 with a 3.5 GPA in English Literature.

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James' favorite word is "scotch" because he "likes the way it sounds." His least favorite word? When reading, at least: "I thought" or "he said."

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During high school Franco and his friends started a cologne-stealing ring, stealing expensive cologne from department stores and selling them to their classmates. In 2008, Franco become the face of Gucci's cologne.

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He wrote a collection of short stories entitled Palo Alto inspired by his growing up in the suburb of California. Franco, who was arrested during high school for vandalizing private property and underage drinking, didn't allow his mother to read the stories in fear that she would find out all the trouble he got into as a kid.

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Franco was a late bloomer and thought the reason he didn't grow any hair under his armpits like his friends was because he was masturbating too much.

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James wrote an essay for the Wall Street Journal explaning his performance as Franco on General Hospital: "My hope was for people to ask themselves if soap operas are really that far from entertainment that is considered critically legitimate."

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Franco has acted alongside his mother, Betsy Lou Franco, on General Hospital. Although he said working with her was weird at first, since she was at work and "acting differently" James was able to get over it.

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To prepare for his role in City by the Sea, Franco lived on the streets.

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While attending Yale's Ph.D program, Franco simultaneously attended Rhode Island School of Design's digital media master's program.

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James got into Yale's Ph.D English Literature program and set up classes with his professor John Williams over the phone and through video conference to discuss the topic that he was most interested in: looking at film as a kind of grammer or language. James attended weekly meetings with Williams, his Yale english advisor while filming Oz, the Great and Powerful in Detroit. Williams says Franco faithfully attended their weekly scheduled meeting, even making time to talk to Williams the week of his father's funeral.

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Franco dated actress Anha O'Reilly for five years, starting in 2006, before breaking up in late 2011. Franco blamed his ambition to move to the east coast and go back to school for their split, admitting that it was when he got into Yale's Ph.D program that she "had enough." O'Reilly stars as Dewey Dell in Franco's 2013 adaptation of As I Lay Dying.

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Franco had his first solo art show, titled "The Dangerous Book Four Boys," exhibited in the five-room space of New York City's Clocktower Gallery. The show, which included videos, photographs, drawings, and sculptures, was curated by Alanna Heiss, the founder of MoMA PS1.

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Franco was originally supposed to play the role of Dale Denton in Pineapple Express but really wanted the role of Saul Silver. When he met with Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow they thought that it would be crazy (in a good way) if Seth and James switched roles. It worked.

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Danny Boyle, the director of 127 Hours, thought Franco was stoned during their meeting about Franco's role in the film. He swears he wasn't, and was "coming off calm." He further claims he hasn't smoked weed since high school, simply because he "doesn't have the time."

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James Franco has read Twilight and admits that he's on Team Edward.

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For the 2002 blockbuster Spider-Man, Franco tried out for the role of Peter Parker, but it went to Tobey Maguire. The director Sam Raimi liked Franco so much, he offered him the role of Parker's best friend Harry Osborn.

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Franco dressed in drag for the cover of Candy magazine in 2010.

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Judd Apatow thought Franco was ugly. Upon meeting him for the first time on the set of Freaks and Geeks, Apatow said, "What I remember about meeting James was that he had this really big mouth, and he was very skinny, and very greasy. And he really made me laugh. I thought he was funny and strange. We had no sense that he was attractive—we just thought he was this, you know, wannabe cool guy, but it wasn't quite working, a funny mess of a guy, the way he performed the scenes. After we hired him, we kept hearing from women in the office that he was so dreamy. We didn't know what the hell they were talking about."

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Franco was enrolled at NYU's Tisch graduate film program, Columbia University's fiction writing program, and Brooklyn College's fiction writing program at the same damn time.

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Franco co-wrote and directed the movie Ape with Merriweather Williams, who was also a writer for SpongeBob SquarePants. The film is about a writer who lives with a talking ape.

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Franco earned a pilot license while filming Flyboys (2006).

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On the set of Annapolis, Franco and his costar Tyrese didn't get along, because on the second day of shooting, Tyrese was convinced that Franco delibertely punched him for real. Franco denies the claim, blaming his acting methods for his attitude on-set. James told GQ, "I take full blame for any problems on that film. If he had a bad experience working with me, I was probably a jerk. I was not purposely cruel to him, but I was probably so wrapped up in my performance that I was not as friendly as I could have been."

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To research his role as a prostiute in Sonny, directed by Nicolas Cage, Franco admits to hitting Santa Monica Boulvard and talking to hookers who insisted they allow him to touch his penis to make sure he wasn't an undercover cop. When the hooker method failed, Franco turned to the New Orleans strip club scene, where he met a male stripper who became his muse. At one point Franco followed the stripper and his coworker to a hotel to sleep with a doctor. Franco sat in the corner, shirtless, and watched. Franco described the situation as "scary, weird" but "human" interaction.

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To prepare for his role as James Dean in the TNT biopic, Franco cut off communication with his friends and family to capture Dean's loneliness. Franco even cut off communication with his girlfriend at the time, Marla Sokoloff, to which she told TV Guide, "You can't help but be insulted that he doesn't want to see you or talk to you. After the initial shock and being devastated, I supported his decision as much as I could." His method acting paid off: Franco won a Golden Globe in 2001 for his portrayal of the Rebel Without a Cause star.

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Someone snapped an infamous photo of Franco falling asleep during a lecture at Columbia. Now he says he's paranoid about dozing off in public.

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He co-directed an art-film adaptation of scenes from Cruising entitled Interior. Leather Bar that premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. It draws on the gay leather clubs of Manhattan in the late '70s.

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According to his younger brother Dave, James is a poor sleeper because he always feels he could be spending his time doing something productive. Franco's sleeping habits got so bad that he would only pass out on the couch when he physically could not stay awake anymore, allowing Dave to take over the master bedroom in his home.

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