Will James Franco get a Best Actor Oscar nomination for ‘127 Hours’?

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These are photos of last night’s NYC premiere of 127 Hours. How does James Franco look? Tired. Stoned. Dirt-lippy. And nice! I like that he wore a suit and looks clean – and I know I’m setting the bar low, but you never know with a guy like Franco. He’s so “artsy” right? And he’s promoting this film at the same time he’s promoting his book of short stories. He could go consistent, and just wear flannel and his “writer glasses” everywhere. But instead, Franco dresses for the occasion. Still, I wish he would shave. The stupid mustache is killing me. It reminds me of his character in Milk, who I liked, but it kills any heterosexual vibes.

Anyway, 127 Hours about that jagoff who had to cut off his own arm when he got jammed into a crevice. I covered the first trailer here, where I described Franco’s character as “vaguely douchey and reckless” and most of you agreed – the real guy was behaving recklessly, and he’s probably a douche. Anyway, the film is getting pretty good reviews – it has an 89% at Rotten Tomatoes, and it has good buzz, especially for Franco’s performance (and for having Danny Boyle, fresh off his Slumdog Millionaire Oscar win, as the director). So, here’s the question: will Franco end up with an Oscar nomination this year? Critics think he might.

But I have a theory about why he might not – even though I think Franco is truly one of the best actors of his generation, I don’t think the Academy is ready to recognize his talent, especially given the fact that Franco doesn’t seem to want to be JUST an actor. He wants us to think he’s some kind of spectacular “artist” who “performs” his life and write charming little stories and oh, just happens to “act” to make some money. I could totally be wrong though – if Franco kisses some Academy ass, he might make it into the fold.

Also… Johnny Weir was at the premiere. I LOVE this photo. I think Weir wants to be Franco’s Oscar date.

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Photos courtesy of WENN.

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27 Responses to “Will James Franco get a Best Actor Oscar nomination for ‘127 Hours’?”

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  1. David says:

    I saw a sneak of this movie, he was awesome!

  2. l says:

    I Just watched the trailer…WOW! Looks like a terrific performance, however I got totally clausterphobic just from that clip, so I doubt I’d be able to sit through the whole movie.

  3. Sophie says:

    He’ll definitely get nominated I think. and it’ll be between him and Colin Firth for who wins.

  4. Sarah says:

    I LOVE that man. I think his pornstache looks cute. lol. The more I read of him, the more I adore him. 🙂

    EDIT, that clips looks amazing. He does a great job!

  5. dread pirate cuervo says:

    Love the Franco! Also love the order of the pics in this article, like JF is laughing at Johnny Weir’s rainboots.

  6. KJ says:

    I really like that he’s not JUST an actor. I think a lot of times these celebs who are “actors” get lost in the celebrity side of thing and forget that, at the very core of it, acting is a creative talent. It IS an art form. Of course, only the best actors truly exemplify being “artists” of the screen and stage, Franco I believe is one of them. And if there’s one thing I know about true creatives, it’s that we like to dabble. We don’t just like to stick to one thing. That’s why painters usually don’t just paint. It might be their main medium but they usually dabble in photography, or other kinds of painting like watercolor.

    I really like guys like Franco and Joseph Gordon-Levitt – who also does a lot of other creative ventures outside of acting. I think it’s refreshing that they see themselves as artists with interests in different crafts instead of just STARS working for a fat paycheck. Some people find it pretentious, but I’d say I’m kind of snob, so I dig it.

  7. devilgirl says:

    I love that song, The Funeral.

    Okay, but about the movie. Looks good, but just like Into the Wild, they are both about people who are reckless and a bit on the arrogant and selfish side.

  8. QQ says:

    Yeah Devilgirl those “work-hard-play-harder-adrenaline-junkies-he-died-doing- what-he-loved-to-do-leo-types” make me SO tired and uncomfortable…. That I don’t think I could do the movie, just cause I get reflexive eyeroll

  9. devilgirl says:

    @QQ- Perfectly said! Wish I had thought of it!

  10. ziggy says:

    why should franco be ‘just an actor’ when he has other talents and ambitions? sheesh! he’s fortunate he has the finances to explore his other dreams. we should all be so fortunate. a tad harsh to assume the young man this story is based on is a douche. we all do (or have done) reckless things in our youth.

  11. Bodhi says:

    I sort of understand where you are coming from, Kaiser, but calling the main character a douche & a jagoff based solely on the trailer for a movie about 127 hours of his life is a little extreme. Maybe he is an epic asshat, but that isn’t what the movie or this bit is about.

    I loved & hated Into the Wild. The kid made me want to reach through the TV & slap the shit out of him. My husband & I totally disagreed about it; I thought the dude was an asshole for making his family suffer & my husband was all “meh, it was his journey blah blah blah…”

  12. Kaiser says:

    Bodhi – I’m not doubting that the character goes through rough time, and hey, I couldn’t do what he did to survive. But my remark about him being a “jagoff” mainly relate to everything leading up to the accident. But: I’m keeping an open mind, and I do want to see this.

    Also: I never saw Into the Wild for similar reasons – “Oh, poor white boy, so misunderstood and disenfranchised.” Blah.

  13. Hollowdoll says:

    Franco and Weir would make the cutest couple! Sooner or later Franco will get an Oscar. I like the he does whatever he’s interested in. You only go around once, might as well enjoy yourself. It’s nice that he doesn’t take himself so seriously.

  14. devilgirl says:

    @Bodhi- I read that the real guy from Into the Wild was even more douchey than they made him on-screen. They said Penn made him more “likeable” for the audience, when in reality, the many people who met him said he was an arrogant, insensitive, SOB who thought he knew it all.

    My favorite part of the movie was when he was with Hal Holbrook, who I think was a compilation of several people in the book. Maybe it is because I love Hal so much, but those scenes made me cry.

    I will say this, the movie was good, but like many, I just wanted to strangle him!

  15. Kaiser, I think you’re correct about Franco and his lassez-faire attitude about acting, which might piss off the Academy.

    Then again, if his “O Face” during the masturbation scene seems convincing enough, something like that could turn the tide in his favour, so to speak.

  16. dread pirate cuervo says:

    O Face what? This dude was pinned to a mountain & jerked off to it?

  17. Crash2GO2 says:

    Yeah, I want to hear more about that scene!

  18. Confuzzle says:

    Blegh. Has the range of a plank of wood.

  19. Megan says:

    Maybe he’s growing out his pornstache for Movember…if that’s the case props go out to Mr.Franco. But if the mustache is just for sh*ts & giggles i’m looking down upon him because that sh*t is nasty!

  20. mln says:

    If he doesn’t get nominated and Justin Timberlake does there is something seriously wrong with the Academy.

  21. Deborah says:

    Johnny Weir looked adorable. He should be in a movie. I think he would be awesome. I think Franco is a great actor. I remember the first time I ever saw him on Freaks and Geeks. I thought then that he would be a breakout star and it came true. Both Johnny and Franco looked amazing at the premiere.

  22. Nj says:

    @KJ- great post and I totally agree. I think James Franco is so refreshing. So many other actors would be content with just a film career. I would love to see him nominated.

    Oscar looooooooves Danny Boyle.

  23. scotchy says:

    @kaiser, i couldn’t agree with you more. that was the reason why i didn’t see “into the wild”, and i will most likely not see this film. i just don’t feel any sympathy for idiots.

  24. Crash2GO2 says:

    Erp. I think I’ll skip the movie.

  25. LT says:

    Yikes Kaiser, take it easy on Franco! What’s so wrong w/ a guy NOT being a total Hollywood douchebag but doing other things too? Could it be that, GASP, he really is more than “just” an actor and actually wants to be recognized for other stuff he truly enjoys doing as well?

    I could spread him on a cracker. But ENOUGH of the awful mustache! You’re killin me James…

  26. Michelle says:

    @Bodhi-I rented “Into the Wild” because I had heard such good reviews about it. However, when I watched it, all I could think of was “does this dude not know anything about living in the bush?”

    I lived in Labrador as a child and for anyone who’s spent time in Northern Canada, a 12 year old would have known more about how to dress/pack for the bush, build camp, forage for edible plants etc…I wanted to scream when I saw him kill that large game and then totally waste it because he didn’t know how to properly cure the meat.

    Afterwards I went to read about reviews of the book the movie was based on. The author totally made up the theory that the kid poisoned himself with the wrong plant therefore being “unlucky” enough to die. The writer knew little about Northern living and just seemed to want to romanticize this kid’s “journey” in my opinion.

    Apparently in reality the boy froze to death and was emaciated because he tried to subsist on a diet of mainly wild game alone, which is very low in fat and carbs. First Nations people in Canada totally know that you have to supplement that diet with other sources of fat and carbs from the environment. Nuts, berries, mushrooms, fatty fish, bear and beaver lard, wild rice, roots of plants such as cat-tails etc…Crap, I could have shown him how to find that stuff and I don’t even consider myself an expert “bush” person!

    To someone familiar with living in Northern environments, that boy sadly just seemed like a dumb, silly, “tourist” who didn’t know anything about living off the land. His death was just a waste of life!

    BTW in Labrador we used to get at least one “hippie” each summer who’d need to be rescued by helicopter in the bush because they’d decided to ignore everyone’s advice and go on a spiritual “trek” across the land. They didn’t have a clue about how bad the blackflies are in the summer and by the time the rescue party reached them, they’d have gone half mad with sun exposure…(in the summer the sun sets at midnight and rises around 3am). They’d have blackfly bites all over their scalp and body because they left their skin exposed, malnutrition etc… Nobody made a movie about those idiots. Cost us a lot of money and local resources to fly them back to our little hospital in Churchill Falls and then finally out to Montreal.

    Please, if you want a wilderness experience, spend a summer with a group of First Nations people and they’ll show you how to “commune with nature”.
    Shania Twain used to spend the summers with her adoptive Native grandparents on their reservation. I’m sure she could have taught this misguided young man how to survive in the bush!

    Dr. Michelle 🙂