James Franco has addressed his personal growth following the end of his friendship with Seth Rogen and the controversies that have surrounded him over the years.
In 2018, multiple women, including four former students, accused Franco of engaging in sexually inappropriate or exploitative behavior.
A year later, in 2019, Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal filed a lawsuit against Franco, alleging he exhibited “sexually-charged behavior towards female students” at his now-closed acting school.
Franco initially denied the 2018 allegations, calling them “not accurate”. However, in 2021, it was reported that he had agreed to a $2.23 million settlement for the lawsuit.
This controversy contributed to the dissolution of his partnership with Rogen, with whom he collaborated on films like Pineapple Express, The Interview, and This Is the End.
In response to the allegations against Franco, Rogen told The Sunday Times’ Culture magazine: “What I can say is that I despise abuse and harassment and I would never cover or conceal the actions of someone doing it, or knowingly put someone in a situation where they were around someone like that.”
The comedian admitted that the allegations had impacted his two-decade friendship with Franco, explaining: “I look back to that interview in 2018 where I comment that I would keep working with James, and the truth is that I have not and I do not plan to right now […]
“I can say it, um, you know, it has changed many things in our relationship and our dynamic.”
This seemed to have a profound effect on Franco.
“Being told you’re bad is painful,” he revealed to Variety in a recent interview.
“But ultimately, that’s kind of what I needed to just stop going the way I was going.”
After the allegations, Franco took a step back from Hollywood, using the time to focus on self-improvement.
He said, “Whatever had been going on with me before, I had to change my whole way of life.
“So I am proud of the kind of work I did during that time. And yeah, I wasn’t working in movies, but I certainly was doing a lot of work to change who I was.
“Up until, let’s say the past eight years I had a good career.
“But it was very hard for me to enjoy it.
“I was a workaholic; I was going all the time. And even when there were good moments – like a movie that people liked or, I don’t know, [being] nominated for an award or whatever it might be, whatever good moments along the way that I wish I could have appreciated – I just didn’t because I had this weird thing where it was just like, I always need more.”
Franco expressed gratitude for his time away from Hollywood, noting: “It did afford me a chance to just do whatever private work and really change what I need to change.”
He elaborated: “I don’t want it to sound like platitudes, but honestly, this is my experience. Sometimes life delivers things to you, and the delivery system is so painful. It really hurts.
“But ultimately, from the big picture that I’m talking about, maybe it’s for the best. Who am I to say?”
Franco’s latest film, Hey Joe, premiered at the Rome Film Festival recently.