James Franco has always been unusual, it seems. Whether it's his acting choices, or going to college, or writing a book of short stories, or whatever, he never seems to let anything dictate his unconventional path. And he's played his share of gay characters, most notably in "Milk," which always leads to speculation about his own sexuality, even though he's been in a relationship with a woman for some time. (I think much of this speculation, particularly from gay men, is because he's pretty; otherwise, not nearly as many people would care.) In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he talked about that very thing rather brilliantly:
“It’s funny because the way that kind of stuff is talked about on blogs is so black-and-white. It’s all cut-and-dry identity politics. ‘Is he straight or is he gay?’ Or, ‘This is your third gay movie — come out already!’ And all based on, gay or straight, based on the idea that your object of affection decides your sexuality...”
“There are lots of other reasons to be interested in gay characters than wanting myself to go out and have sex with guys. And there are also lots of other aspects about these characters that I’m interested in, in addition to their sexuality. So, in some ways it’s coincidental, in other ways it’s not. I mean, I’ve played a gay man who’s living in the ’60s and ’70s, a gay man who we depicted in the ‘50s, and one being in the ‘20s. And those were all periods when to be gay, at least being gay in public, was much more difficult. Part of what I’m interested in is how these people who were living anti-normative lifestyles contended with opposition. Or, you know what, maybe I’m just gay.”
Here's my problem: he's been so cool about it -- not feeling it necessary to issue strong denials or take offense about it, not making condescending "I have lots of gay friends"-type statements -- that I fear that, if he did suddenly come out and say, "Yeah, as it turns out I really am gay," he'd be ripped to shreds by a lot of people for being a hypocrite, or for not coming out sooner. It seems odd but I think he'd get almost as much criticism as right-wing political types get (such as Ken Mehlman) get. It wouldn't be quite as harsh, since Franco isn't actively working against equality or anything like that. But I think it would still be there, and it would be a shame.So I really hope James stays straight...although I wonder if he could get away with being bisexual? Or just "experimenting," perhaps. And if you do want to experiment, James, I can help you out there. Even if you go back to this look (because I kinda dug it at the time):
