Well, it seems James Franco has returned to his bizarre comfort zone.
The general opinion surrounding Franco’s performance at last weekend’s Academy Awards is that he seemed completely uninterested and possibly stoned. Hollywood’s most impressive multi-tasker ended up being one of the least impressive hosts in Oscar history. Next to Anne Hathaway’s borderline obnoxious enthusiasm and Franco looked smug and asleep for most of the show.
So what does one do when they can’t get any mainstream love? Return to the indie community that seems to be mesmerized by your every move.
According to NME.com James Franco directed two short videos to accompany songs from REM’s new album “Collapse into Now,” which is due to be released on March 7th. The Collapse into Now Film Project was the brainchild of REM lead singer Michael Stipe, who handpicked the participating directors and artists.
“It was a way of presenting the idea of an album in 2011, beyond a music fan’s idea of an album 20 years ago. The way technology is right now, it’s possible to present something in any way you want to. I basically wanted to explore the idea of what is an album, and how do we present it with everything that we have available.”
Challenging the modern conception of status quo? Sounds like something right in Franco’s wheelhouse. The Academy Award Nominee is no stranger to working behind the camera. Last year Franco directed a documentary entitled “Saturday Night,” which premiered at SXSW.
“I went to people I really wanted to work with and I could trust them to do whatever they wanted. They had absolute free rein. In many instances I was surprised, in many instances I got what I wanted. What I wanted wasn’t primarily important though, what was important was to trust the directors with something as precious as a brand new song.”
Giving James Franco free reign to do whatever he wants is a dangerous offer. Odds are it’ll result in some form of meta performance art revolving around him playing himself, reading his own short stories, while teaching a film class based solely on his former movie roles.
[NME.com]
