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James graces the cover of the winter issue of VMan magazine. You can check out a few digital scans from his issue in the gallery.

GALLERY LINK:
- Magazine Scans > Scans from 2011 > VMan (Winter)

James Franco covers Vman magazine’s Decades Issue, on newsstands Thursday (October 27).

Here’s what the 33-year-old actor had to share:

On life on and off the big screen:
“There is a bit of a dichotomy between my work on camera as an actor and off-camera. I am still hired as an actor in commercial narrative films and my responsibility there is to create characters that are believable and entertaining in each given project. I don’t see my participation in films like Milk or 127 Hours as anything other than storytelling devices among many such devices for the directors of those films. I am a collaborator, but a collaborator serving a director’s vision.”

On people’s skepticism of the concept of celebrity:
“You know, I’ve embraced it now. I actually like this sort of superficial criticism of the work, because in a way it becomes this sort of beautiful reflection of our culture.”

I’ve finally had the time to add photos of James at the Austin Film Festival ‘Sal’ Premiere, so be sure to check them out!

GALLERY LINK:
- Appearances > 2011 > Austin Film Festival – “Sal” Premiere With Special Guest James Franco

Gucci has rolled out a new campaign, with James front and center! You can check out photos in the gallery.

GALLERY LINK:
- Photoshoots > Outtakes > 2011 > Session #022

The 33-year-old actor posed for French photographer Nathaniel Goldberg in Rome for the campaign, which features James in a film studio and showing off his own Made to Measure suit.

“James has an innate ability to fuse classic elegance with contemporary style and interpret formalwear in an individual way, true to the spirit of our MADE TO MEASURE service” Gucci creative director Frida Giannini said. “With Gucci’s Made in Italy tradition and sartorial expertise, personalized formalwear is the ultimate way for a man to express his own style.”

Source: Just Jared

Actor James Franco hit the red carpet Sunday in Austin to debut a film he wrote, directed and starred in called, “Sal.”

Hundreds lined up at the Paramount Theatre to watch the film and get a glimpse of the actor.

The film focuses on the last day that Hollywood actor Sal Mineo was alive. Mineo acted alongside James Dean in the film, “Rebel Without a Cause.” Mineo was brutally murdered outside his apartment at the age of 37.

“I was aware of his work and his new biography just came out,” Franco said on the red carpet. “He was an actor I admire, but I just thought he had a particularly tragic story.”

Click here to read the rest.

Just Jared is reporting that James has officially dropped out of The Iceman. Details below!

James Franco has pulled out of the upcoming biopic The Iceman, JustJared.com can exclusively report.

James, 33, was set to play Kuklinski’s mentor assassin, Robert “Mr. Softee” Pronge. Maggie Gyllenhaal was also set to be a part of the mafia family.

“James pulled out because he couldn’t come to an agreement on key contractual issues that didn’t involve financial terms,” sources tell Just Jared. “Now it looks like this project might fall apart.”

Source: Just Jared

Gucci with James Franco from Jeff Pinilla on Vimeo.

Playboy and Bombay Sapphire are looking for a film that inspires self expression and ignites Imagination – an uplifting force that allows us to unlock the beauty and potential hidden in the world around us. When acted upon, the effects of Imagination ripple outward, influencing and inspiring other acts of Imagination. And when Imagination is expressed with the spirit of Freedom of Expression, it becomes even more powerful.

James’ mother, Betsy posted the sad news of Doug Franco passing away recently.

@FrancosMom: It is true that my sweet, generous husband passed away. He gave so much to his three sons and me, and to many other people, too.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Franco family for their loss. May your memories give you strength.

If you would like to share your own messages, thoughts, etc. you can do so here, or, like many of you have done already, in the shoutbox.

Hollywood actor James Franco has turned his hand to directing for the biopic Sal, about the life of the actor Sal Mineo. Sal was an actor in the 50’s and 60’s and James admits that, because people can easily look up information on anyone these days, his movie is not the typical biopic, history lesson.

Franco explained, “I was less interested in giving a history lesson. I think with the technology we have today, it allows you to look up facts about practically anything in two minutes. So I felt like we didn’t need to tell all the beats of Sal’s life. What we could do as a movie was deliver the emotional side of him, that’s maybe something you can’t get from Wikipedia, that’s something you can only get from a performer.”

He then added, “We sought a way to give an emotional impression of who Sal was, and to capture his spirit rather than just tell you all the major things of his life.” As well as directing the movie, James Franco will also star in it. It is not yet known when Sal will be officially released.

Source.

Such a great story!

James Franco was only at the Toronto International Film Festival for a fleeting visit on Sunday, but he quickly saw something he liked: homemade fan art crafted by a local teenager.

The Oscar-nominated “Milk” star was addressing an exclusive gathering about his new art installation, “Memories of Idaho,” when he noticed 13-year-old Macy Armstrong clutching three pieces of self-made art: a portrait of Franco made out of yarn; a collage made from newspaper clippings and a canvas inspired by the poster for “127 Hours.”

At first, it seemed like Franco was joking when he pointed at Armstrong’s art and announced that he wanted to buy her work. But after a few in the crowd giggled, Franco insisted, telling Armstrong: “I saw that one on the Internet, someone sent it to me. I wanna buy those.”

Armstrong, clad in a homemade T-shirt featuring photos of Franco’s face, was only too happy to oblige, handing her artwork over to one of his aides, who in turn jotted down her email address.

“Of course, I would love him to have them,” said a giddy Armstrong after the incident. “I’m a humongous fan. For his birthday, I made him a cake.”

Armstrong even runs a blog devoted to Franco — jamesfrancoforever.tumblr.com — and immediately took to the site to express her enthusiasm.

“He looked at me, he spoke to me, and I’m pretty sure we mentally got married!” she wrote. “Everyone on the street thinks I’m crazy because I’m freaking out! It’s like a dream.”

Click here to read the rest.