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His riotous new film, The Disaster Artist, is one of the best in a fascinating but patchy career. So how did this notorious workaholic with a fear of failure learn to laugh at himself?

James Franco, the stoner’s comedian inside a workaholic arthouse auteur trapped in a Hollywood leading man’s body, is a bewildering enough prospect as an actor, but that’s nothing compared with what he is as an interviewee. As I walk into his hotel room in San Sebastián, Spain, where he is at the film festival showing his latest effort, The Disaster Artist, which he directed and stars in, I wonder which side I’ll get today. (Please, God, not the pretentious-auteur one.) After all, what to expect of a man who, in one year, made eight movies including Eat Pray Love; the pretty good Allen Ginsberg biopic, Howl; the completely meh comedy, Date Night; the endurance movie,...

If the Sundance Film Festival has an unofficial spirit animal, it's James Franco. In recent years, the crinkly-grinned polymath-movie star/filmmaker/artist/perennial grad student has become a fixture at North America's ranking showcase for independent film. He's come as an actor in such films as Howl and Lovelace and as director of Interior. Leather Bar and the short film Herbert White, but also as a producer of Kink, a 2013 documentary about Bdsm porn. Franco even enacted a meta-art piece called Three's Company: A Drama—transgressively riffing on the '70s sitcom—at the festival's New Frontier program in 2011. With...

James Franco, it seems, spent the majority of his Tisch career translating the lives and work of tormented American poets. There was C.K. Williams with the Tar omnibus, Hart Crane with The Broken Tower and Frank Bidart with the just released Herbert White. Franco and Michael Shannon played lovers in the largely misguided Broken Tower, and here, Shannon, fulfilling his menacing hulk of a persona, prefers dead girls. Franco discusses his adaptation of the Bidart poem with Matt Rager, his co-writer on As I Lay Dying and The Sound In The Fury (Faulkner, being yet another poet of sorts), over at Vice. For those who are largely uninterested in the musings […]...

James Franco, it seems, spent the majority of his Tisch career translating the lives and work of tormented American poets. There was C.K. Williams with the Tar omnibus, Hart Crane with The Broken Tower and Frank Bidart with the just released Herbert White. Franco and Michael Shannon played lovers in the largely misguided Broken Tower, and here, Shannon, fulfilling his menacing hulk of a persona, prefers dead girls. Franco discusses his adaptation of the Bidart poem with Matt Rager, his co-writer on As I Lay Dying and The Sound In The Fury (Faulkner, being yet another poet of sorts), over at Vice. For those who are largely uninterested in the musings […]...

Such has been the life of James Franco, that he can still be in school, and when he gets the lark to make a short, he can just get on the phone and called up Michael Shannon to star in it. And that's the case with "Herbert White," a 14-minute 2010 movie Franco made while at Nyu, which is probably one you'd probably otherwise pass over, were it not for the uh, promise, of Shannon having a sex with a corpse. Because he does. The short is based on titular poem by Frank Bidart, and it's one that clearly stuck with Franco, and she shares his approach to the oddball source material with Vice: Once I decided to adapt “Herbert White,” I had to figure out what would stay in the narrative. I was struck by two moments at the beginning of the poem that led to an approach for the entire film.

Even James Franco isn't immune to bad poetry.

Looks like James Franco's debut collection of poetry, Directing Herbert White, isn't getting the best reviews.

In fact, it's pretty much the opposite.

One particular poem getting plenty of attention/hate?

Related: James Franco Addresses 17-Year-Old Hookup Scandal -- 'I'm Embarrassed'

Franco's poem about the late Heath Ledger (via The Telegraph), who he reveals was his competition for roles earlier in his career.

"There had been a time

When we were up for the same roles,

10 Things I Hate about You

(Based on The Taming of the Shrew),

And The Patriot –

Funny, you were Australian and so was Mel –

You were the knight in A Knight's Tale..."

"North Korea recently condemned the actor James Franco's upcoming film, The Interview, as 'an act of terrorism and war.' Let's hope they don't find out about his poems," The Telegraph's Charlotte Runcie writes in her scathing review.

Ouch.

In an...

James Franco published a short story fictionalizing his encounters with Lindsay Lohan when the two were living at the Chateau Marmont.

James Franco: I Never Slept With Lindsay Lohan

In May, Franco insisted that he had never slept with Lohan despite being named on Lohan’s alleged ‘conquest list,’ but he did reveal his odd friendship with the troubled star. Speaking with Howard Stern, Franco admitted that the two were friends years ago when they were both living at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.

“I guess you could say we were friends, although I hesitate to say that because every time I brought her back into my life or tried to be nice, it just turned really lame and stupid,” Franco told Stern at the time.

"Bungalow 89" By James Franco

Franco insisted that Lohan had a crush on him and wanted to be more than friends, but that...

They say to write what you know, and that’s exactly what James Franco is doing — though he’s not using the word in the biblical sense. Because, in his latest short story, Franco wants to make one thing clear: He did not have sexual relations with Lindsay Lohan. Well, probably.

This whole “did they or didn’t they?” thing (which, yes, everyone should be exhausted by) started when somebody stole the “Sex List” Lindsay Lohan wrote in rehab. For the record, Lohan didn’t confirm that the list contained previous paramours — only that she wrote it. Perhaps it was...

James Franco appeared on The Howard Stern Show, where he insisted to Howard Stern that he isn’t consciously trying to pick up underage girls despite his recent Instagram exchange with a 17-year-old.

James Franco Not Pursuing Teenagers

In early April, screen shots of a flirty conversation between Franco and a 17-year-old girl, Lucy Clode, who met Franco outside of his Broadway play Of Mice and Men, went viral. In the text messages, Clode clearly states her age, and Franco still invites her to meet him at a hotel in New York City. After the messages went viral, Franco was forced to address the issue and publicly apologized on Live with Kelly and Michael, saying that he is just a man trying to navigate dating in the age of social media.

“I guess, you know, I’m embarassed, and I guess I’m just a model of, you know, how social media is tricky.

James Franco has a message for Lindsay Lohan: nice try. The actor/author was on Howard Stern’s satellite radio show on Wednesday (April 30) to talk theater, movies and his new poetry book “Directing Herbert White,” which, well, features a poem about Lohan. Because he can’t get enough of the sex lives of his celebrity guests,... Read more »...

Your Daily Roundup of Celebrity Gossip & Star Shenanigans!

Not On The List, And Ok With It: Lindsay Lohan's alleged sex list (something the actress has never confirmed nor denied) includes some of Hollywood's hottest guys - but James Franco said his inclusion on the conquest tally is not true. The actor opened up about the alleged list while chatting with Los Angeles Magazine about his new poetry book "Directing Herbert White," where he writes about Lindsay. "I didn't write anything bad about them," he told the mag when asked about poems in the book about celebs, including Lilo. ...

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He’s well-known for his success with the ladies, but James Franco insists he never did the hibbity-dibbity with Lindsay Lohan.

The “Spring Breakers” stud told Los Angeles Magazine that despite his poetry about the “Mean Girls” actress in his new book “Directing Herbert White,” he’s never sealed the deal with her.

Franco that he’s never received any negative feedback from any of the celebrities about whom he’s written. “No, I didn’t write anything bad about them. And Lindsay herself has told lies about me with her people-she’s-slept-with list!”

Furthermore, “So I feel like what I said [in my book] is much less than what she’s said,” though the infamous sex list is likely a fake. Michael Lohan told press, “It’s not even her handwriting.”...

James Franco isn't one of Lindsay Lohan's conquests, despite what you might have heard. The actor was just one of 36 people named in her alleged sex list, which was revealed via In Touch. The tabloid claimed Lohan jotted down her past lovers and left it behind at the Beverly Hills Hotel Jan. 30. Lohan has not publicly commented on the cover story or its follow-up, which alleged the actress bedded everyone from Justin Timberlake and Orlando Bloom to Ryan Phillippe and Ashton Kutcher. Franco shares his thoughts on Hollywood and certain celebrities in his poetry book, Directing Herbert White. "I didn't write anything bad about them," the 35-year-old Of Mice and Men actor tells Los Angeles Magazine....

James Franco turned 35 today and celebrated the occasion the way most people do: He released a work of poetry. Franco originally wrote the self-deprecating piece on his 31st birthday. "I have done a few things in the past four years," he noted in his Huffington Post article, "but this poem still captures how I feel on my birthday." In it, the Oz the Great and Powerful actor reminisces about his childhood and his experiences while on set of his 2010 indie film short Herbert White in Suffolk, Va. A passage from the poem: "I've had good and bad birthdays. / And boy do they make me think  / About when I was younger, / When I had no friends and my mom drove me to school /...

London, Dec 19: Actor James Franco has added another feather to his cap by writing his own poetry book.

The 34-year-old has titled his lyrical verses Directing Herbert White, reports contactmusic.com.

The piece talks about his work while adapting poet Frank Bidart's poem Herbert White into a short film.

"(It will be) about my relationship to that poem, Frank's relationship to the poem as I have learned about it from knowing Frank and the adaptation process," Franco told New York Times.

The book will be released by Graywolf Press in April, 2014.

Ians...

Actor and director's debut poetry collection, Directing Herbert White, will deal with 'successes and failures within Hollywood'

Not content with conquering the acting world, the musical world, the directing world and the art world, James Franco is continuing his bid for world domination with the news that he is set to publish his first poetry book.

Ideally suited to the world of poetry – he has an Master of Fine Arts degree in poetry from Warren Wilson College in North Carolina, and played Allen Ginsberg in the film Howl – Franco has been signed by small Minnesota publisher Graywolf Press for his debut collection, Directing Herbert White. The poems will be published in April 2014, with the title taken from a poem about a short film that Franco directed and wrote, which in turn was adapted from Frank Bidart's disturbing poem Herbert White.

Graywolf poetry editor Jeffrey Shotts described Franco's poetry as...

James Franco has revealed that he plans to publish a book of poetry. The Oz: The Great and Powerful actor has named his forthcoming collection of works Directing Herbert White.

> James Franco dating 'Pretty Little Liars' star Ashley Benson? The 34-year-old named his first book after the title of a poem he adapted from the works of White, according to the New York Times. Franco's collection will be released in April 2014, (more)...

Publishers Weekly reports that James Franco has sold his debut collection of poetry to Graywolf Press. Entitled Directing Herbert White, the book is set to be released in April 2014. "Herbert White" is the name of a short film Franco wrote and directed based on a poem by Frank Bidart. This will be Franco's third book, after his short-story collection, Palo Alto, and his poetry chapbook, Strongest of the Litter. We have an exclusive on one of his poems:  Roses are red, Violets are blue, You think I've done everything, Then I find something new.

Already the out-and-out definition of a entertainment multi-hyphenate, poetry is something that also evidently flows in James Franco's blood, and is a world he loves to delve into for his film projects. Franco has made several shorts based on poems, including works by Anthony Hecht ("The Feast Of Stephen"), Spencer Reece ("The Clerk's Tale") and Frank Bidart ("Herbert White") before playing Hart Crane in "The Broken Tower" and Allen Ginsberg in "Howl." And it doesn't end there either.

Franco has now shepherded a project for Nyu graduate students that'll result in two poetry-centric anthology features: "Tar" based on C.K. William's book of poems of the same name, and "Black Dog, Red Dog," based on a book of poems by Stephen Dobyns. Students -- who had to win a competition for the opportunity -- separately helmed shorts based on individual poems with their entries combined into a cohesive feature-length narrative.

Short films directed by Glenn Close, Kirsten Dunst and James Franco will be among the 314 films set to unspool between June 22-28 at the Palm Springs International ShortFest.

Now in its 16th year, the fest, taking place at the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs, Calif., has scheduled 52 themed programs, which include 58 world premieres, 55 North American premieres and 24 U.S. premieres.

Close will be represented by the doc "Pax," which she narrates and co-directed with Sarah Harvey; Dunst's film, "Bastard," stars Brian Geraghty, Juno Temple, Lukas Haas and Joel David Moore; Franco will present three shorts -- "The Clerk's Tale," "The Feast of Stephen" and "Herbert White" -- and take part in an onstage conversation June 26.

The fest's opening night consists of a program of live-action and animated comedies called "Laughing Out Loud." The fest also will have a special focus on Australia, dubbed "On Top Down Under," including both screenings and a reception.

The 7th annual Calgary Underground Film Festival is ready to start off with a bang this year on April 12 and then continue through to April 18. Opening night will see the results of the festival’s wildly popular 48-hour Movie Making Challenge, where registered teams were given a genre, a prop and a line of dialogue; then sent out to craft perfect cinematic masterpieces in just two short days.

Then, the rest of the fest is dedicated to some of the wildest films made in both the fest’s home country of Canada and from around the world, including Indonesia, Serbia, the UK and the U.S.

If you’re attending the festival, there’s one incredibly fun documentary you need to see: Michael Petersen’s Eddies: The Documentary, about the craziest beer commercial-making competition in the world — that happens to take place right in Calgary every year! Petersen profiled several...

SXSW Review

Saturday Night

Director: James Franco

World Premiere

Spotlight Premieres

94 minutes

Complete Coverage of SXSW 2010

Synopsis

Have you ever wondered how a sketch was chosen for Saturday Night Live? Or why some actors are in more sketches than others? With John Malcovich hosting the episode and unprecedented access to the behind the scenes action, watch as Franco takes an observational approach in documenting what it takes to create one full episode.

Director Bio

James Francos short film Herbert White premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and then went on to screen at the Berlin Film Festival in February. Saturday Night is his first foray into documentary filmmaking and is proud to have its world premiere at South By Southwest. Later this year James will direct Ham on Rye based on the novel by Charles Bukowski.

Who’S It For? Anyone who considered themselves a fan of “Saturday Night Live,...

Some people's student films never see the light of the day, but James Franco's Nyu shorts are another story. Not only can he approach Michael Shannon at a Boston train station to star in them, but they're virtually guaranteed film festival debuts, from the homoerotic The Feast of Stephen to the Sundance-pedigreed Herbert White. Franco's latest short Saturday Night premiered this week at South by Southwest, and it's an intimate look into the backstage process of Saturday Night Live. Let's round up some reactions to it, shall we?...

Here at Movieline, we're proud Franco-philes. Whether we're watching James Franco's guest appearance on 30 Rock, dissecting every episode of his General Hospital stint, or unmasking the real reason behind his soap opera inspiration (as Franco's artistic collaborator Carter told us, it's all background for an upcoming film the two are planning), we're happy to follow Franco's every move simply because the moves make up such a notable zig-zag.

Now, the actor has come to Sundance with two more feathers in his multimedia cap. Festivalgoers caught him last night in Howl, where he stars as poet Allen Ginsberg for directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, and he'll soon be screening his Nyu student film Herbert White, which he wrote and directed himself. Movieline caught up with Franco today to shed some light on his novel career.

Berlin -- The Berlin film festival's Panorama sidebar is coming back loud and proud this year with a lineup packed with films examining gender identity and the gay movement.

The 2010 Panorama opens Feb. 11 with the Russian film "Jolly Fellows," director Felix Mikhailov's look at the drag queen subculture of a Moscow club.

This year's lineup also features Cheryl Dunye's thriller "The Owls," in which aging lesbians try to get away with murder; and Jake Yuzna's "Open," a series of intertwined love stories featuring gay and trans-gendered partners.

Several of Panorama's documentary selections explores related themes -- such as Crayton Robery's "Making The Boys" about Matt Crowley's ground breaking gay play "The Boys in the Band;" "Cuchillo de Palo," Renate Costa's expose of persecution of homosexuals during the Paraguayan dictatorship and the German doc "Rock Hudson – Dark and Handsome Stranger" from directors Andrew Davies and Andre Schaefer.

One look at the filmmaker names below, and it appears as if the Sundance alumni have come out in droves. We find a known variety of filmmakers such as Spike Jonze (Being John Malcovich), Ira Sachs (Married Life), Nicholas Jasenovec (Paper Hearts), James Franco and the Zellner bros. who have dabbled this year in the short form while working in between their feature film projects. - I'd be willing to bet that its the commonly available digital filmmaking and editing technologies that is the core reason for the record breaking amount of short films submitted (6,092) to Sundance this year. Personally, you'll only hear me complain that watching movies is a tough job come day 8 of a major film festival, but imagine being one the programmers having to plow threw hundreds of pieces of crap in order to find something worth watching over a second time. One look at the filmmaker names below,...

Sundance has announced the short films that will be playing at this year’s Festival. Some of the notable filmmakers include James Franco, Spike Jonze, Rory Kennedy, Patrik Eklund and Paper Heart director Nicholas Jasenovec.

Also, as Sundance points out in the press reelease:

The Sundance Film Festival’s shorts program has long been established as a discovery for directors, including: Wes Anderson, Todd Haynes, Paul Thomas Anderson, David O Russell, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Tamara Jenkins, Ted Demme, Tim Blake Nelson, Alexander Payne, Paul Dinello, Martin McDonagh, and Jason Reitman.

Since there are so many short films playing at the Festival, hit the jump for the full press release, which lists the categories, the films, and the synopses.

2010 Sundance Film Festival Announces Short Film Program

70 Short Films Chosen from a Record 6,092 Submissions

Program of Four Short Films by Spike Jonze, Rory Kennedy, Patrik Eklund; and François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy,...

The Sundance Institute have announced the short films selected to screen at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Movieline was the first to break the story, but the press release is now public. Some of the notable films include Spike Jonze’s robot love short film I’m Here which stars Andrew Garfield, Herbert White, a short film he directed earlier this year by James Franco, who is already at the fest with his feature-length film Howl, Rory Kennedy’s The Fence, as well as short films from Nicholas Jasenovec, Ira Sachs, and Patrik Eklund. This year the Festival's Short Film Program comprises 70 short films from U.S. and international filmmakers selected from 6,092 submissions up 8% over 2009. So, yes, for the most part the program is made up of filmmakers you've never heard of -- but that's exactly why you should care. The Sundance Film Festival's shorts program has long been established as...

The 2010 Sundance Film Festival has just announced its slate of short films, broken up into several sections (U.S. Dramatic, Documentary, Animated, International Dramatic, Documentary, Animated and New Frontier). Unlike previous years where one narrative film opened the festival, Sundance will be switching it up in 2010 and premiering one shorts program, one documentary and one narrative film all on the same night, Thursday, January 21. Said shorts program will feature shorts from Spike Jonze (I'm Here), Rory Kennedy (The Fence), Patrik Eklund (Seeds of the Fall) and François Alaux and Hervé de Crécy (Logorama).

Most notable among this year's batch of shorts is that Spike Jonze and James Franco both have films screening. Jonze's short, titled I'm Here, is a robot love story starring Andrew Garfield, whereas Franco's -- titled Herbert White -- stars Michael Shannon and is based on the poem of the same name. But aside from the celebrity short filmmakers,...

The Sundance Institute has finally rounded out their announcements for their upcoming fest (held in Park City in January) with the full listing of Short Films in competition. Aside from the various late additions and surprise screenings, this should be the last major announcement as we get closer and closer to the fest, which I will once again be covering for this lovely site and you lovely readers. The shorts program includes new works from Spike Jonze (Where the Wild Things Are) and James Franco (writing and directing for the first time). Overall, it's exciting. There are also two -- not one, but two -- different "Drunk History" shorts, which a few of you may recognize. Check out the full list below. Keep it locked on our Sundance 2010 page for more. U.S. Dramatic Shorts This year's 35 U.S. short films were selected from a record 3,504 submissions. Charlie and the Rabbit (Directors: Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck and Robert Machoian...