James Franco in drag: fabulous or needs work?

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James Franco appears in full makeup and women’s clothes on the cover of Candy, a magazine devoted to transsexual style. He’s in the second issue, for Fall-Winter 2010-2011, which is coming out on October 24 in a limited edition of just 1,000 copies. They’re sure to all sell out with this great cover.

Franco appears with his hair slicked back and wearing full makeup including blue eyeshadow, false eyelashes and bright red lipstick. With the black gloves, chunky gold jewelry and tuxedo jacket it’s all too 80s for my taste. That’s probably what they were going for. He needs a wig and some softer makeup.

A video for the magazine’s new issue (below) shows that they’ll be paying tribute to icons like Twiggy, Barbra Streisand, Lady Gaga, Amy Winehouse and Grace Jones. They’re also doing Anna Wintour! I love it.

Franco comes off as a little too cool for school sometimes, but I admire how he’s so comfortable with his sexuality that he’s appeared on the cover of The Advocate and now in drag for a transsexual magazine. He’s game for a lot of things, and he’s filling his time getting an education and exploring art and culture. He seems like an interesting guy. I only get slightly haughty vibes from him, like he’s the type of person that would name drop a bunch of artists and places while I’d tilt my head, nod and squint a little as if I knew what the hell he was talking about. He’s probably one of those guys who wouldn’t notice or make you feel uncomfortable though, he’d just be so enamored with all the ideas he was spouting that he’d assume you “got it” too.

Photos via Huffington Post

CANDY 2 from Luis Venegas on Vimeo.

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39 Responses to “James Franco in drag: fabulous or needs work?”

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  1. m says:

    Fantastic. :)))))))))

  2. Nikki says:

    He looks like Blake Lively.

  3. Kaiser says:

    Actually, he totally looks like Joel Grey. And that’s a good thing!

  4. granos says:

    I agree with you, CB. Franco is too kewl for school. Otherwise, this is a great cover and he looks good and carries it well BUT is it just me or does he really resemble Blake Lively?

  5. Atticus says:

    Nikki – I thought the exact same thing…he looks like Blake Lively in that cover shot!

  6. Lee says:

    He looks hot, I’d hit it.

    So I was looking at this picture, or more exactly I was gawking and hypnotized by this picture, and in the back of my head I am asking myself: “So is he gay or what, is this his covert way of coming out, by being in all of these movies and talking about how many times a day he masturbates and doing documentaries about homosexuality…” And then I stopped myself and hit myself in the head because it does not really matter if he is gay or not, and yet people who dwell in the middle of a sexual category still seem to get under our (American culture) or at least my, cognitive skin.

    Maybe he is doing this to f**k with people like me who want to be open minded (and are open minded to a certain extent) but who still have this part of their brain that wants to *KNOW* straight or gay? Like those are the only two categories. Maybe I am giving him too much credit for pulling off a masterfully concocted performance of a social statement.

    But honestly, I give Franco such major major credit and props for having the guts to do covers like this when there are still so many “prescriptions” about what a man should look like and how a man should behave – and don’t get me started on how uptight we still are as a society concerning homosexuality. As recent events in the news have tragically demonstrated.

  7. Laura says:

    ahh, I love him.
    And he somehow still manages to look sexy. which confuses me.

  8. Lisa. S says:

    Faboulous! Love it!

  9. Sarah says:

    He needs a wig but other than that it’s beautiful. I’d hit it, dressed as a man, I’d hit it, dressed as a woman. I love that man!

  10. Melissa says:

    Definitely Blake Lively! By the way – that Terry Richardson that’s he’s posing with in the last photo is a complete pig – look him up!

  11. Julie says:

    I hate Terry Richardson too much to find anything about this interesting.

  12. photo jojo says:

    I love it. I love it like crazy!

  13. Az says:

    I thought it was Mischa Barton!

  14. Samigirl says:

    I never realized how big his smile is…until they plaster bright red lipstick on them!
    As a freelance makeup artist, I have to say the bright blue doesn’t do much. I would have done him in a forest green. Dark greens look AMAZING with brown eyes.
    Also, girls, you can do beautiful eyes, or beautiful lips, but if you do one, you need to do the other one in a nude. Because bright red lips and bright blue eyes is…clownish. I would have picked lips for him. He has a great mouth. And more contouring would have made this look perfect….just from my point of view.

  15. granos says:

    @nick: I was writing my comment as yours posted. Glad to know I’m not the only one.
    Lee I agree with you on some points.
    Never thought he’s hot. I feel that because Franco is “indie” he can do these things and still retain street cred. Where as a mainstream actor would suffer career repurcussions, speculation on sexuality or worse play it for laughs, thereby marginalizing people who may already feel outcast and disenfrachised. Rant over.

  16. Roxanne75 says:

    People are freaking weird. How is this cool and/or sexy? GROSS! And since when do women wear make up like this? THEY DON”T–Only men who are weird do. UH??? Yeah. People are so dumb and will think anything is cool and hip if made to believe so…

  17. Sarah says:

    @Roxanne75, you need to losen up a little and have a bit more of an open mind. It’s DRAG. Drag does not look natural, it’s supposed to be over the top. Maybe I am weird for thinking he looks hot and so what, it’s a weird world we live in. Take a look around, there is no normal anymore.

  18. rudy5 says:

    with all that’s happened with the clementi death.. it’s awesome that he did this! syn gates for hgf 🙂

  19. jessica says:

    I loves me James Franco.. whether in drag or not!!

  20. Sandy says:

    @Roxanne75
    Drag is over the top. Its fun. Its fun to watch. And its been around for a LONG time.

  21. Jack says:

    AMAZING! he takes risks and is not afraid to do whatever he wants to do!
    i could never imagine tom cruise doing stuff like that!

  22. Tammy says:

    James Franco has officially “jumped the shark”.

  23. Amneh says:

    I love it! I think he looks fabulous. It’s too bad we don’t have this magazine in Kuwait.

  24. K-MAC says:

    He is fabulously hot! I love this photo and my word he really is pretty in drag….he does look like Blake Lively AND he has got the smoldering down to a tee!!!

  25. xxodettexx says:

    @melissa, i also immediately noticed the pig, richardson… hey franco, did he ask u to jack him off, no? he must only require that from young, vulnerable girls…

  26. lu says:

    Awesome not many actors are willing to do what he does for the sake of acting.
    Don’t really like him as a person though.

  27. Trillion says:

    Terry Richardson is having quite a month. From Kardashian to Franco?

  28. monsley says:

    Why did Nan Flanagan’s homely sister get a cover? Is she doing awareness work for the AVL?

  29. carrie says:

    Genevieve De Fontenay!!!

  30. Cleo says:

    He looks like Daniel Craig’s official girlfriend/wife.

  31. benny says:

    Just the fact that he was willing to do this shoot makes me like him a little more.

  32. Camille says:

    It needs work. Not hot.

  33. Maritza says:

    Put a blonde wig on him and he looks just like Judy Greer.

  34. LondonLady says:

    fabulous dahhhhhrling.

  35. Jo 'Mama' Besser says:

    I wonder who carries more crabs, Terry Richardson or Vincent Gallo?

    Anyway, subtlety isn’t the point here at all (I think). This photoshoot is a nod to the glory days of Quentin Crisp, Lindsay Kemp, Boy George or Amanda Lepore. I admit I had never heard of this magazine before today, but it’s not like they can put RuPaul on the cover every month.

    I have a strange inclination to watch Auntie Mame right now.

  36. PsychicEyes says:

    I never thought I would ever say this but he’s really sexy in drag. He pulls off this pictorial really well. Two thumbs up.

  37. nsfw says:

    Did Blake Lively forget to put her wig on for this shoot?! I’m kidding but DAMN he looks like her..

  38. KIMBERLY says:

    OMG he does have blake lively’s face minus the mole.

    he looks good !!!!