James Franco has followed through on his promise to share supposed evidence of an ‘alien’ with ‘glowing eyes’ that he says has been hanging around his garage, posting the footage for his TikTok audience to see.
The actor first left viewers puzzled when he resurfaced on TikTok in June under a fresh account, uploading a run of unusual clips while wearing the same blue shirt labeled ‘Bruce Robison’.
In his earliest upload, Franco held up his username on a sheet of paper to insist he was not ‘AI’ and claimed he was not advertising anything. Even so, plenty of users remained skeptical, while others said they were worried about what they were watching. By his eighth video, he said he had spotted ‘an alien’ and, weeks later, he has now unveiled the footage he promised.
In the two-minute video, Franco opened by telling viewers:
“It’s been thrust upon me. I didn’t ask for this. I saw something and I can’t keep it quiet.
He also alleged that his account had been hacked twice and suggested that efforts were being made to stop him from posting the material.
“I need to get this out for that very reason that people are trying to stop me,” he said.
He then added:
The day is here. 7/13 7:13 more footage dropping soon.
After spending around 80 seconds setting the scene, Franco finally showed what he described as evidence, lifting his laptop to display black-and-white surveillance footage that appeared to show someone moving through the trees.
The video continued with shots of the same ‘figure’ or person seemingly looking in through his window more than once. The bright eyes Franco referred to were visible in the footage, though some viewers thought it looked more like someone wearing reflective glasses or goggles.
Franco further claimed that more clips were still to come for his nearly one million followers.
Still, the reaction online suggested many people were unconvinced, with a large number of commenters treating the reveal as part of a joke, a performance, or a marketing stunt rather than proof of anything paranormal.
“Lol keeping a straight face is pretty impressive,” wrote one fan.
Several commenters continued to suspect the clips were tied to a promotional campaign for an upcoming project, especially after observers pointed out that Franco appears to follow only a handful of accounts from the new profile, including the official page for Love Meets in the Sunshine and filmmaker Christian Guiton.
“Clearly fake but I’ll say it again, I’m excited for whatever movie this is for.”
Love Meets in the Sunshine is a road-trip comedy directed by Christian Guiton and starring Franco and Nick Antonyan, with production having been underway in New Mexico. That has only intensified speculation that the bizarre TikToks are a deliberately strange launch for the film rather than a genuine alien encounter.
Others joked that the mystery person in the footage was actually Franco’s former collaborator Seth Rogen.
“Plot twist it’s Seth Rogen,” wrote one, with another echoing: “Bruh that’s Seth Rogen in a mask quit playinnn.”
The speculation arrives after Rogen previously said he was no longer in contact with Franco and had ‘no plans’ to work with him again.
The rift followed sexual misconduct allegations made against Franco by five women in 2018, including four who had been students in his acting classes.
At the time, Franco claimed the allegations were ‘not accurate’ but said he did not want to ‘shut down’ people who ‘didn’t have a voice’.
In 2021, he reached a settlement with two women and agreed to pay more than $2 million after they brought legal action against him.