What happened to James Franco?

There was a point in time when there was no bigger name in the world of Hollywood than James Franco, the Oscar-nominated American actor that collaborated on several occasions with the beloved comedian Seth Rogen.

Working with each other on multiple projects, including This Is the End, Pineapple Express and The Interview, the duo became real-life friends as well as icons of the contemporary industry, remodelling modern comedy to fit their hilarious, often puerile standards.

By around 2018, however, eight years after his Oscar nomination for the Danny Boyle movie 127 Hours, James Franco became something of an industry outcast, with all comedy collaborations coming to an end with a dull thud.

The nature of this career roadblock came to light in January 2018, when several allegations of sexual misconduct were made against the actor by former pupils of his acting school, ‘Studio 4’.

Such was made clear three years later in June 2021 when the actor agreed to pay $2,235,000 to resolve a lawsuit made against him, alleging that he encouraged his students into performing explicit sex acts on camera.

Responding to this court case, Franco spoke on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Podcast in December 2021, where he told the host: