James Franco, in classes at Yale, this week, is about to become a professor. He’s been asked to teach a directing class at NYU Film School.
Franco told me: “It’s an honor to be asked to teach there.” He’s finishing his MFA at NYU, and on the road to a PhD at Yale. Today’s New York Post sounded positively bitter as it quizzed NYU students–none of whom will be in Franco’s class–whether he should teach there. It does seem that the more Franco accomplishes, the more people in the media seem to resent it. Well, too bad.
The “127 Hours” star did fine at the Oscars, too, despite crazy accusations that he was stoned or unprepared. Again, insane. As a teacher of film directing, Franco has plenty of experience, too: several short films, a couple of small features, all praised. He’s also working on a plan to shoot William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying” next year. Franco could be like the two dozen or so other young actors in his age group, just going from one mediocre film to another and not trying to do anything new or interesting. By the way, the students who are chosen for his directing class will not be there to ogle a movie star. They’ll be there to get work done, just like the teacher. Give James Franco an A for effort.
