Friday, July 26, 2024

James Franco Will Try for a Comeback After Sex Scandals, $2.2 Mil Settlement, in Movie with Tommy Lee Jones

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James Franco wants to come back. Will he be uncancelled?

Franco is set to star with Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones in a movie called “The Razor’s Edge.” This is not connected to the famous W. Somerset Maugham novel of that name which has been made into a movie twice.

Producers Red Sea Media are taking this dull blade to the Cannes market where they hope they can scare up business. They are counting on foreign money not knowing that Franco, in 2022, came to a $2.2 million settlement with students who claimed he abused his power as an acting teacher by coercing several women into unwanted sexual encounters while he was an acting teacher in Los Angeles.

There was more that expedited Franco’s expulsion from Hollywood including accusations from Ally Sheedy (he directed her in an off Broadway play). Franco also admitted to texting and trying to meet up with an underage girl. He was clever: he did all of this while making movie after movie with gay themes, making the actresses think he wasn’t interested in them. It was quite the contrary.

“The Razor’s Edge” will be directed by Demian Lichtenstein (“3000 Miles to Graceland”) from a screenplay co-written by Lichtenstein and Vance Duplechin. What’s the plot?  “After a mob hitman vows to leave his deadly past behind, he faces an impossible choice when his daughter is kidnapped and the woman he loves becomes a target of the syndicate.   He is forced to undertake one final, perilous mission while being pursued by an assassin even more lethal.

Who will be the American distributor of this B movie? This has Vertical Entertainment written all over it. Can Franco come back? Or will he wind up in Mel Gibson hell? The latter is likely. He has one other movie in the can, in which he plays Fidel Castro. But his previous victims will probably not remain silent. They’re just waiting for the right time.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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