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In late 2009, James Franco started playing Franco, a borderline psychotic performance artist, on the soap opera General Hospital. Playing both his soap character and himself, Franco decided to take his meta performance to the next level. Franco had his on-screen character interact with his real-life persona by hosting an art exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. In July of 2010, the exhibit opened. Franco called it “Soap at MOCA.”
Basically, Franco hosted an art exhibit, where he displayed his own art, and appeared as a fictional character playing, well, himself. And he also had a body double for a scene where he jumped off a balcony.
As the New Yorker put it, “There was no one who was not confused.” And that, ladies and gentleman, is the essence of James Franco.
Franco is all id, with a dash of super-ego. He is driven by unbridled creativity, but refined by diligent methods. He looks outward only to look inward. In addition to his confusing art installations, Franco has done a number of weird things. They range from the silly to the surreal. And in honour of his 38th birthday on April 19, we are revisiting all the times Franco made us think "WTF." Which, in the case of this story, could mean one of two things — What the fuck! or, What the Franco!
If you're into horoscopes, then it's important to point out that Franco is a quintessential Aries. He's a go-getter, enterprising, spontaneous, a bit proud, impatient, and at times egoistic (ahem — the selfies.) His enterprising and spontaneous traits are exemplified by his mile-long project list (there are currently over 20 projects he is involved in this year on IMDB) and the fact that he has attended no less than 7 colleges at some point.
He's quirky, yet hunky. Free-spirited, yet hyper-focused. He's got a mega watt smile with a mega weird mind. That's what makes him so great. So happy birthday, Franco. Stay weird.
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