James Franco’s temper flared in a memorable incident shortly after his widely criticized performance co-hosting the 2011 Oscars with Anne Hathaway. Comedian Paul Rust recounted witnessing the actor’s emotional outburst while Franco was doing promotional work for Your Highness, a stoner fantasy film.
Paul Rust Opens Up On James Franco Losing His Cool Shortly After The Oscars
Rust shared on the With Gourley and Rust podcast that the actor, still smarting from the negative reviews of his Oscars stint, was in a notably bad mood just days later during a CollegeHumor shoot. “I saw James Franco flip out once,” Paul claimed on the audio show.
“When Your Highness came out, CollegeHumor was going to try to do some promotion, and the idea was that a group of nerds are playing Dungeons and Dragons with the stars of Your Highness, James Franco, and Danny McBride,” he explained.
The funnyman divulged this happened “literally two days after [James] had hosted the Oscars. So he was upset because the reviews were not good. He was in a bad mood.” Franco seemed to disengage from the promo’s light-hearted concept. He appeared disinterested and mumbled through his lines, leading to unusable footage.
The setup for the shoot was a playful Dungeons & Dragons scenario, but when Franco’s turn came to improvise his character, he struggled with the self-deprecating humor it required. Rust mentioned that the promo director even asked James, “What was that? What are you doing?” The director’s question triggered the actor, causing him to become “more upset,” according to the comedian.
“So, the premise was, each person picks their character and goes, ‘My character is Skibby the Great, and he’s a warlock who has these powers.’ And then it comes to James Franco, and he goes, ‘My character is James Franco, and he’s been getting into cooking chorizo,’” he said.
Rust continued, ‘“So, it’s sort of like he has to be self-effacing here, so that’s also part of the problem. And so, he starts doing ad-libs about other things that people say about James Franco. So he goes, but in the mumble voice — he’s still doing the mumbling thing, so he’s got his head down — he goes, ‘James Franco was high on heroin when he was hosting the Oscars last night.’”
James Franco Stormed Out Of Stage & Never Came Back
Franco ad-libbed a bizarre comment about his own alleged drug use during the Oscars, which triggered a concerned reaction from the crew, including a publicist who warned him about what he was saying on camera.
Franco’s frustration grew as tensions mounted, leading him to lash out. His co-star, McBride, attempted to calm him, offering reassurance that he wasn’t obligated to continue. But it was of no use—Franco stormed off the set in a dramatic exit, kicking over a chair in the process, and never returned.
Rust noted that despite the chaotic scene, he didn’t believe Franco was high during the Oscars but rather struggled with the aftermath of the backlash.
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