James Franco’s Career Rehab Flops as He Sleepwalks Through the Werewolf Microdrama ‘Love, Lies & Frank’

By Aramide Tinubu

Aramide Tinubu

Latest

• Netflix’s Engaging Crime Drama ‘Blood Sacrifice’ Spotlights Inept Policing: TV Review 6 days ago
• Netflix’s ‘My Brilliant Career’ Is a Spunky Reimagining of the Australian Period Drama: TV Review 2 weeks ago
• Phylicia Rashad on Her Historic Career and the Current State of TV: ‘If There’s Something on That I Don’t Like, I Simply Don’t Watch It’ 2 weeks ago

James Franco’s glittering career first showed signs of faltering in 2014, when a 17-year-old girl shared messages the then-35-year-old sent her on Instagram, trying to coerce her into showing up at his hotel despite knowing her age. At the time, Franco brushed off his behavior, saying he “used bad judgment.” But in 2018, at the height of the #MeToo movement, multiple women came forward to accuse Franco of sexual misconduct at his former acting school, Studio 4, which eventually led to a class-action lawsuit and a multi-million-dollar legal settlement in 2021. Though Franco admitted to having sex with his students and previously undergoing treatment for sex addiction, he did not address any allegations of sexual exploitation or misconduct. Since then, the now 48-year-old has mostly remained out of the spotlight.

Related Stories

'Chicago PD's' Jesse Lee Soffer, Matt Olmstead to Develop 'Strike Force' Drama at CBS, Jerry Bruckheimer to Produce