James Franco: 'Half-assed sex scenes are the worst, straight or gay'

James Franco has argued that “half-assed” sex scenes in films are “the worst”.

Franco made the remarks during an interview with Vulture where he spoke about his work on his 2011 MFA thesis project, The Broken. In the short film, Franco stars as gay American poet Hart Crane alongside Michael Shannon, who appears as one of Crane’s lovers.

When asked to compare his love scene with Shannon to Michael’s more intimate moments, Franco revealed that he had try hard to make sure Shannon’s reservations about filming a gay sex scene didn’t come across on camera.

It was very different. Michael Shannon is an awesome actor, one of the best actors of our generation, and a good friend of mine who prides himself on being the guy who will do anything, but he was uncomfortable in that scene. I had to take him to dinner before we shot it because he was so uncomfortable … he was like, ‘We’ve gotta talk about this.’ So I went in to New York, and as soon as we sat down, he was like, “Aw, now I feel stupid that I’m such a wimp. All right, I’ll do it, I’ll do it.”

Once we got to set, we set up the lights and everybody else cleared the room. It was my DP and focus-puller, and that was it. We did one take, and if you look closely at the scene, you’ll see that I am pulling his face close to me because he [refused to get close], and we’re supposed to be passionately making out. And he’s a strong dude! But in the end, it worked … half-assed love scenes are the worst. Straight or gay! So I was just doing my job on [I Am Michael].

Meanwhile, the first picture of Franco, Zachary Quinto and Charlie Carver’s threesome scene in Michael was revealed last week – check it out here.

James Franco: ‘Half-assed sex scenes are the worst, straight or gay’

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