James Franco, who has been making his acting comeback after a wave of sexual misconduct allegations, spoke about no longer being friends with his close pal and long-time collaborator, Seth Rogen.
The two Hollywood stars had a friendship that spanned about two decades. However, their camaraderie crumbled after James was sued for engaging in "sexually-charged behavior towards female students” at the acting school he co-owned.
Highlights
- James Franco spoke about his friendship with Seth Rogen during a recent interview about his latest movie, 'Hey Joe.'
- The actor, 46, returned to acting with his first movie release earlier this year since 2019.
- His decades-long friendship with long-time collaborator Seth was affected after a series of sexual misconduct allegations against him.
- Seth previously said he no longer had plans of working with James in the future.
Two former students, who attended his now-closed acting school Studio 4, accused him of creating “a pipeline of young women who were subjected to his personal and professional sexual exploitation in the name of education,” according to the 2019 lawsuit.
James Franco spoke about the end of his two-decade friendship with Seth Rogen following sexual misconduct allegations against him
Image credits: Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon
The actor, 46, agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle the lawsuit in 2021.
After being cast out of Hollywood, the Oscar-nominated actor has remained largely out of the spotlight until this year, which saw his first movie—The Price of Money: A Largo Winch Adventure—come out since 2019. The movie was released in France in July and did not include a U.S. release.
His latest movie, Hey Joe, premiered at the 19th Rome Film Festival last week.
The actor, 46, plays a an alcoholic American WWII vet looking for his son in the new movie, Hey Joe
When asked by Variety about how he felt after being cast out of Hollywood, he said: “I mean, it is what it is. I’ve honestly moved past it. It was dealt with, and I got to change.”
“So that’s it, it’s over. I mean, I’ve worked in the U.S. too. So I’m just trying to move on,” he said in the interview published on Friday, October 25.
The actor-director acknowledged that he underwent a personal transformation in the last few years.
"I’ve honestly moved past it. It was dealt with, and I got to change," the Pineapple Express star said about being cast out of Hollywood
“I really didn’t have a personal life,” he said about his younger days. “I had friends, but it was always sort of enmeshed with my work. And so, yeah, I put a lot of time into my personal life."
He also noted how he is now enjoying a long-term relationship with actress-director Izabel Pakzad.
“I’ve had a relationship for seven-and-a-half years,” he said. “I was never able to do that before. I was just too scared, really … to have any sort of real intimacy with anyone.”
James and Seth first worked together on the 1999 show Freaks and Geeks and went on to have a decades-long friendship before the scandal
Image credits: Seth Rogen
Image credits: IMDB
He was also asked about his former friend Seth and whether they are still in touch.
“I haven’t talked to Seth,” he told the outlet. "I love Seth, we had 20 great years together."
“But I guess it’s over. And not for lack of trying,” James continued. “I’ve told him how much he’s meant to me.”
Despite having tried to fix their friendship, the Spiderman actor said it's "over" between them
Image credits: IMDB
The two comedians first worked together on the 1999 show Freaks and Geeks before going on to star in hits like The Disaster Artist, Pineapple Express and This Is The End.
Seth previously stated that he had no plans of working with James again.
"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," he told The Sunday Times in May 2021.