Unlike many actors, James Franco isn't out pounding the pavement looking for jobs. Nor does Franco have a "day job" as a waiter or word processor. James Franco is a movie star.
Back in the late '70s and early '80s, everyone wanted to be on General Hospital, even mega-stars like Elizabeth Taylor. It was the place to be, with Luke & Laura on the cover of Newsweek, guests on Good Morning America and "Love on the Run" sweeping the country.
Nowadays, sometimes even the stars of General Hospital don't want to be on it.
So what is James Franco doing, agreeing to a story arc that will stretch over a couple of months? Uh, James, reality check - Brad Pitt, Demi Moore, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alec Baldwin, Meg Ryan, Courtney Cox, and John Stamos pursued careers the other way around. They left daytime.
While Franco's reasons haven't been made clear, there are some theories floating around:
- He's researching a role.
- He watched it growing up.
- He has the same manager as Steve Burton.
Closer to the truth may be the following: James Franco is a committed actor who wants to do it all. There isn't anything easy about acting in a soap opera. In fact, it's harder than just about any other genre. Actors sometimes have to memorize enormous pages of dialogue a day, cry on cue, and summon strong emotions, with little or no rehearsal time.
Franco may be challenged by this and want to give it a try. It's possible that when he mentioned this to his manager, his manager (who is indeed Steve Burton's manager as well) suggested General Hospital. Franco was born in 1978, at the height of soap mania, so it's unlikely that he remembers it at its peak.
Whatever the reason, Franco is doing soaps a great service. They need some bling. Why watch a bad marriage on a soap when we can watch Jon and Kate disintegrate before our eyes for real? People who haven't tuned in lately or ever, for that matter, may just tune in to watch James Franco torment Jason.
Taping has been made as easy as possible for Franco - apparently he'll only have to tape one day a week. However, unlike a movie, he won't be filming a page a day - he'll be filming 30-40. For a genre that's often denigrated, working on a soap opera is a mighty demanding business.
Photo: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images Entertainment
Comments
No one seems to care that james franco is coming to general hospital. He will not help the ratings unless he plays a doctor who is not involved with the mob. But still he is a good actor.
My gosh talk about a snotty, anti soaps article. Good grief. I will enjoy his run on GH but am just shocked the the attitude.
Hardly snotty. It’s correct. Ratings are down. Soaps have changed since the days of Luke and Laura. Soap operas need all the help they can get. As the last sentence says, soaps are not well thought of, but the actors work harder than anywhere. Yet when soap actors audition for roles outside of soaps, they’re often not taken seriously.
Was never a GH fan until james franco came on the show Ireally didn’t you james franco was until GH and know I am a fan of both. So maybe he is trying to turn soap fans into James Franco fans and if that is it it seems to be working