SBIFF Outstanding Performance of the Year-James Franco (2010)

Reviewed by Alex Descano. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2011.

Every year the Santa Barbara International Film Festival presents one actor with the highly prestigious “Outstanding Performance of the Year Award”. This year’s award winner was the versatile and very talented James Franco for his incredible performance in Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours.

This award ceremony was definitely one of my favorite events of the film festival and by the far the most entertaining tribute. A devoted fan of Franco myself, I was overwhelmed with excitement to have the opportunity to see him. After much anticipation, I am pleased to say he did not fall short of my expectations.

Listening to Franco talk openly and freely about his career was so fascinating and such a rewarding experience. Moderator Leonard Maltin began the tribute by recognizing Franco for his breakthrough performance in the late 90’s sitcom Freaks and Geeks. It was obvious that as soon as Maltin mentioned the show, Franco became nostalgic about the start of his acting career.

Franco poured his heart out like an open book and told the rather funny story of how he made it as an actor. He could hardly hold back the laughter as he explained he landed his first paid role in the television series Pacific Blue. He described the show as the male equivalent of “Baywatch on bikes”. He then explained that he approached the agent he now has many years ago with nothing but a polaroid picture of himself. Needless to say, she shot him down.

It wasn’t until Franco landed the lead role in the film, James Dean that he truly became a distinguished actor. After seeing a clip of the film at the tribute, Franco revealed the intricate process he partook in in order to prepare for the role. Franco said he was really devoted to correctly portraying Dean’s character so he did a great deal of studying before shooting the film. In fact, he said he even took up smoking and began smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, just like James Dean did. He also uncovered that Dean was a rather isolated person, so for months he went without speaking to his friends and family so he was able to fully understand the way Dean lived. An interesting fact he divulged regarding this was that there is now a Trivial Pursuit question that asks: “which actor went for months without speaking to his friends and family in order to prepare for a role?”.

Franco explained that his role as James Dean was not the only one he went to strange measures to prepare for. In fact, his preparation for his role as the gigolo Sonny Phillips in Nicolas Cage’s Sonny involved some absurd activity as well. Franco very openly told us that they filmed the movie in New Orleans, where he would go to local bars to try and meet male prostitutes. At the time, he said, he was still an upcoming actor so he didn’t have any problems with getting recognized. Nicolas Cage, however, was already famous so Franco had to sneak him into the bars so he could meet the prostitutes too. This was an extremely shocking and hilarious fact to discover, one a person would probably never know unless they were at the award ceremony.

In addition to his acting career, Franco is also quite the academic. He has studied at a total of five different universities, beginning with his first schooling at UCLA and his current institution of Yale University. He explained that he has chosen to further his education so much because he would often find himself becoming bored with his acting career, something I found a bit surprising. I believe that he would bore himself of acting because he would take on roles he was not really passionate about. In fact, he said it wasn’t until his friend and fellow actor, Seth Rogen told him he wouldn’t work on a film “he wouldn’t normally see himself” that he realized he should only work on projects he is truly interested in.

That is why, as of recent, Franco has appeared in films some might not expect him to be in. For example, Maltin explained to Franco that several of his colleagues told him to ask Franco why he took on such roles as “Taste” in Date Night. Maltin explained the reasoning for their curiosity was that Franco is such a big star now that it seems strange he would take on such a small role. Franco said he thinks it is important for actors to do movies they might only have one chance at doing and to make sure to keep their career fun, which is why he chose to work on Date Night.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the evening was Seth Rogen’s appearance at the end of the ceremony. Rogen was asked, as a friend, to present Franco with his award. Before doing so, Rogen told a series of jokes at Franco’s expense, causing the audience and even Franco himself to erupt in laughter.

Overall, the ceremony was an extremely entertaining event and anyone that was fortunate enough to be there experienced a lovely evening.