Showbiz411

Is Oscar nominee James Franco really returning to “General Hospital” this fall for an extended stay? That was the word that went out yesterday after TV Guide reported it. But I’m told that Franco was a little surprised by the announcement. He’s in Detroit filming a $100 million movie, “Oz, the Great and Powerful,” directed by Sam Raimi and taking up most of his time for the next few months. “Oz” is billed as a prequel to the “Wizard of Oz,” with co-stars Zach Braff, Michelle Williams, and Mila Kunis.

Unless “GH” is coming to Detroit, it’s unlikely that Franco can be too involved in the soap opera beyond a cameo. And that’s not all on his plate. He’s got his Yale PhD program in New Haven, poetry classes in North Carolina, and two art shows in New York scheduled for August–one at PS1 and the other at a small gallery in Soho. Plus, his many indie directed films–like “Sal” and “The Broken Tower” (which Focus Features expressed interest in)–are in various stages of preparation.

Franco told a friend of the “General Hospital” news: “I don’t know what that is about. Maybe down the road.” Maybe he can go back and forth from Detroit to Los Angeles in a hot air balloon, just like Oz the Magnificent!

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.