James Franco is already an actor/director/writer/producer/author/poet/performance artist/graduate student—would self-described-as-partially-gay be too much to add to the list? Because Franco has taken on gay characters for many of his above arts: acting, directing, writing (and more?), 429 Magazine asked the multi-hyphenate to interview himself where the interviewer is Straight James Franco and the responder is Gay James Franco. And between question-and-response we're supposed to get Real James Franco.
It isn't online, but Slate grabbed a section for a classroom discussion (in which any James Franco might be present if any of them hear the word "classroom"). And we must say: gay James Franco gives a better performance than the grating James Franco in The Interview.
Straight James: Let’s get substantial: are you fucking gay or what?
Gay James: Well, I like to think that I’m gay in my art and straight in my life. Although, I’m also gay in my life up to the point of intercourse, and then you could say I’m straight. So I guess it depends on how you define gay. If it means whom you have sex with, I guess I’m straight. In the twenties and thirties, they used to define homosexuality by how you acted and not by whom you slept with. Sailors would fuck guys all the time, but as long as they behaved in masculine ways, they weren’t considered gay.
We're learned, too, James. We do know that the original definition of the word gay—even prior to rampant 1920s sailor-fucking—meant "carefree." But times do change. Do you have anything post-1930 to contribute to your self-discussion?
Perhaps we need to read more from the piece, but James Franco plumbing the depths of the different sides of James Franco to pen a piece about a dual James Franco, isn't exactly the cure for our James Franco hyphenate headache. But we'll join you for True Story, James. You play a master-manipulator in that one, right?
