James Franco
James Franco World
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The challenge Baz Luhrmann had in adapting The Great Gatsby to film was similar to what Walter Salles faced with On the Road: how to stay loyal to the era depicted, while still retaining the rawness of the original text. Salles did a great job of capturing the ambiance of 1950s America, but it could be argued that his Dean and Sal didn’t have enough zeal—enough of that desire to live, live, live.
The old saying is that a good book makes a bad film, while a paperback potboiler like The Godfather makes a great film. But this wisdom is derived from the idea that a good book is made by the writing, and if it’s adapted into whatever, its magic is lost. As just about every (film) critique has already noted—and they’re right, if repetitive—most of what makes The Great Gatsby great is Fitzgerald’s prose. We allow the classics to get away with so much because we love the characters. But when older stories are revived for film, the issue of the past and present must be rectified. But that lack was not a function of anything missing in the actors or the general direction as much as it is a result of the passage of time, the encasing of a book in the precious container of “classic” status.
Palo Alto High School alumnus James Franco held a book signing at Kepler’s Book Store on Monday, May 13 at Kepler’s Book Store in Menlo Park; he was joined by his mother Betsy Franco, also a well known author.
James Franco’s book “A California Childhood” is a collection of poems, pictures, short stories and drawings from his upbringing in Palo Alto.
“I grew up in the best city in the world,” James Franco said. “There’s a mix of fiction and nonfiction, but all the stories were inspired from the same time period.”
oh ok :) thanks for letting me know ..I’ll edit the post now :)
This Friday night James Franco and Travis Matthews’ stunning, complicated and sexually graphic new film Interior. Leather Bar., a “docu-fiction” exploration of queer sex and BDSM subculture as it relates to Hollywood, mainstream culture and where we all draw the line as people, is making its Pacific Northwest debut at QDoc: Portland Queer Documentary Film Festival.
I had the opportunity to catch up with both Franco and Matthews this week to chat about the public’s reaction to the movie (so far), their intentions behind making it to begin with, how gay sex will save American cinema, and much more.
Logan Lynn: Thanks for taking time out to do this, you guys! I watched the screener ofInterior. Leather Bar. this week and ended up recognizing a handful of the actors you cast from Portland. One major focus of the film is the inner struggle of Val Lauren, whom you cast to play the Al Pacino character, and I am just wondering if this is something you experienced with all of the cast. Was there a process you went through with each of the actors and extras?
awww… yes such wonderful pics of James and his mom :)
Note: James’ official tumblr is jamesfranco.tumblr.com
James Franco and Betsy Franco at the Kepler’s books Menlo Park
Palo Alto
May 13 2013
