Franco Takes on New Gay Role

[flipp525]

I would consider Franco's first "gay" role to be his Golden Globe-winning turn as James Dean in 2001.



Edited By flipp525 on 1227290172

[MovieWes]

Cool. Allen Ginsberg, along with other writers from the Beat generation such as Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, is one of my heroes as well. They helped to inspire a whole generation of writers such as Hunter S. Thompson, Ken Kesey, and Lester Bangs, as well as musicians/bands such as Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead. Hopefully this will be a good movie.

I have personally never read Howl, but I heard an audio recording of Ginsberg reading it. It's very bizarre, but it's also very sexually energetic.



Edited By MovieWes on 1227288821

[OscarGuy]

Franco Takes On Second Gay Role

20 November 2008 4:07 AM, PST

James Franco didn't hesitate to accept the part of homosexual poet Allen Ginsberg in a forthcoming biopic - his second gay role in as many years.

The actor's sexuality has become a matter of intense speculation since he agreed to play the longtime partner of gay public official Harvey Milk opposite Sean Penn in new movie Milk.

But the star insists he was so honoured to be asked to play Ginsberg in forthcoming film Howl, he didn't care that it could fuel the gossip.

Asked about taking on back-to-back gay roles, Franco tells the New York Daily News: "(It) don't make any difference to me. Ginsberg has been one of my heroes and this movie is just so important.

"I'm playing him when he was in his late twenties, just after he went to Columbia (University)."

Howl will tell the story of the 1957 obscenity trial over one of Ginsberg's most famous poems.