Literary Birthday – 19 April – James Franco

Happy Birthday, James Franco, born on 19 April 1978.

James Franco Quotes

1. Sometimes it is painful to be oneself; at other times it seems impossible to escape oneself.
2. Always have one artistic thing that is pure, at least one thing, where you don’t compromise. You can do other things to make money, but have one pure area.
3. I don’t even like to sleep – I feel as if there’s too much to do.
4. They say living well is the best revenge but sometimes writing well is even better.
5. I’m a huge Cormac McCarthy fan and have read every book of his.
6. Make your characters interested in something. Striving for something. In need of something. Good at something. This will make them likeable and interesting.
7. You also need love. Your characters need to love something, otherwise they will be unlovable.
8. There’s a tacit belief that actors shouldn’t write books, they’re sort of allowed to direct movies but there will be a lot of scepticism, and they shouldn’t do artwork or music. There are these invisible roadblocks to gain entrée to these areas for actors, and you kind of have to crash through those invisible barriers.
9. You want to be interesting? Be interested.
10. Create your world around your work. Create your work around your life. Let other people help you shape it.

James Franco is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, teacher, author, and poet. Franco returned to UCLA, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing (2008), and he pursued a series of further degrees, among them a master’s in writing (2010) from Columbia University. His books include Palo Alto, Actors Anonymous: A Novel, and A California Childhood. Franco has also written, directed and starred in several short plays, two of which, Fool’s Gold and The Ape, he adapted into feature-length films. His poetry collection is Straight James/Gay James (2016). He wrote and directed the film Good Time Max. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, McSweeney’s, and other publications.

Source for Image: Angela George, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Franco_4,_2013.jpg