By Erin Free
What Happened? Whether it’s his consistently bold and daring choice of acting roles (such as his incredible turn as a sleazy, corn-rowed criminal in Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers), or his little seen, left-of-centre directorial projects, James Franco is undeniably one thing when it comes to his career: fearless. This, however, can occasionally be a bad thing, as the actor recounted at a panel discussion at last year’s Austin Film Festival. Franco told a surprised audience that director, Paul Thomas Anderson, had actually courted him for the role of the tortured Freddie Quell (eventually played to disturbing, Oscar nominated perfection by Joaquin Phoenix) in his latest film, The Master. “We met,” Franco said at Austin. “We didn’t talk about The Master, but we met to chat. And then he kept calling me, and he wanted to talk and talk, but I didn’t know what he wanted to talk about because we’d always just bullshit on the phone.” When the offer finally came, and Franco told Anderson that he was confident that he could play the role, the director froze. Recalled Franco: “He said to me, ‘But I want this to scare you. I want this role, and going on this journey, to scare you.’ And I was like, ‘Scare?! I can do it!’” That was enough for Anderson, who then went looking for more suitably terrified actors. “It’s an incredible movie, and needless to say, I didn’t get the part,” Franco said at Austin. “I guess that I wasn’t scared enough…for whatever reason, I didn’t get it. Then when I saw Joaquin in the movie, I realised, ‘Oh, he wanted me to lose my mind!’ So I guess that’s just to say that I usually don’t get scared of roles.”
Would It Have Worked? He might not be scared, but James Franco is certainly brave, and he would have nailed it…
