Showbiz411

Oscar nominated actor James Franco has received his Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University. His diploma–it’s real–is right here. This is quite an accomplishment for anyone, but a working actor with a tough schedule–this is near impossible. Franco is currently enrolled in Yale University’s PhD program. This summer he’ll take classes at Warren Wilson College before heading back to Yale. Franco’s educational journey began with him completing UCLA while he was shooting “Spider Man 2.” Mazel tov!

And no,Franco is NOT making an album of experimental music with anyone. That story, like many about Franco, is untrue. And yes he did look at Earth art out west on a recent road trip. But I am advised that this means Michael Heizer’s “Double Negative” in Nevada,  Robert Smithson‘s “Spiral Jetty” in Utah and Walter de Maria’s “Lightning Fields” in New Mexico. The latter work is said to have inspired part of Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian”–a novel Franco had hoped to direct on screen.

Roger Friedman

Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. Friedman previously wrote the Intelligencer column at New York Magazine, He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of a film about R&B Music called “Only the Strong Survive,” which was released by Miramax in 2003 and was a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.