It’s awful, and it shouldn’t happen to anybody. I’ve been hearing a lot of stories over the past couple of days from women that I’m friends with about how this is so common. It happens to them, too, and it’s just not right.
James Franco Speaks Out Against Harvey Weinstein: A blog on the recent accusations against Harvey Weinstein and what it means for acting careers.
Men in Hollywood need to change ASAP. Hollywood’s power is dying because society has changed and grown, and yet Hollywood male behavior has not grown with it. Think about it: it only took one brave man to start speaking up for all the other men in Hollywood who knew this was happening to realize that they also had a choice: you can either keep quiet and hope it doesn’t happen to you next or you stand up and do the right thing by speaking out against this abuse of power.
It’s time to stop allowing men like Harvey Weinstein get away with sexual assault; let’s put an end to sexual harassment in Hollywood once and for all.
The recent accusations against Harvey Weinstein have forced men in Hollywood to grapple with their complicity in an industry that has long been complicit in the sexual harassment and abuse of women.
In a recent op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, actor James Franco spoke out against Harvey Weinstein, and said that he is “saddened,” “angry,” and “disgusted” by the allegations.
This is not how I remember my experience with James Franco as a college freshman in early 2014. I took his acting class because he was a celebrity, yes, but also because of the reputation he had for being a good teacher. His classes were well-attended, so I felt lucky to be accepted into one of them; it was an opportunity for me to learn from someone who was not just a working actor but also an accomplished filmmaker.
I had just graduated from high school, and this was my first time acting outside of high school productions or community theater. I was so new to the craft that I didn’t know what constituted appropriate behavior from a teacher and what crossed the line into something more predatory. Because of this inexperience, as well as the culture of Hollywood itself, there were many moments that now seem inappropriate or unprofessional (at best) but at the
The recent accusations of sexual assault and harassment against Harvey Weinstein have exposed a dark side of Hollywood. In the midst of this controversy, James Franco, who rose to fame with roles in “Spider-Man” and “127 Hours,” has spoken out about the allegations.
Franco noted in an interview that, as an actor, he feels vulnerable when people use his name for publicity: “I can’t live if there’s restitution to be made. If I’ve done something wrong, I will fix it — I have to.”
Franco also commented on the allegations against Weinstein. He said that while he has not worked with Weinstein, he thinks the reported behavior is unacceptable: “I hope it opens up a dialogue. There are people, women and others, who have not been a part of this conversation. And they need to be a part of it.”
On Sunday, the New York Times published a bombshell article detailing decades of sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein. The report included on-the-record interviews with eight women who said they were sexually harassed by the producer and more than two dozen others who said that they had similar experiences. Since then, more women have come forward saying that Weinstein had harassed them too.
In response to the report, Weinstein released a statement saying that he was “profoundly devastated” and accused the article of having “a few inaccuracies.” He also said that he was suing the newspaper for $50 million and planned on using his lawsuit to challenge other articles about him as well.
The movie mogul has also enlisted Hollywood power lawyer Charles Harder to represent him. Harder is most famous for winning Hulk Hogan’s case against Gawker and forcing the gossip website to shut down over an invasion of privacy claim.
As more women came forward with their accounts, actor James Franco wrote an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times titled: “I have my own questions for Harvey Weinstein.” In it, he said: “Like many men in Hollywood, I’ve worked with him and I’m deeply disappointed in myself for being so oblivious to these devastating experiences of sexual harassment and abuse.” He continued: ”
It is a shame that this is the time it takes for people to come forward about sexual assault and rape. It is a shame that it almost always needs to take place in the form of a public accusation followed by media coverage.
The underlying questions are: Why didn’t they say anything? Why didn’t they go to the police? Why did they wait so long? These questions have deadly serious implications for victims of rape and sexual violence, and the answers are not at all simple.
In February 2017, I wrote an article for The New York Times, “Why Actors Act Out.” It was about my experience with James Franco, who had sent me flirtatious text messages when I was only 17 years old. I was not an adult, and he was in a position of power over me as my mentor and teacher at Studio 4, his film school. As I pointed out then, it wasn’t just Franco who made me feel uncomfortable; it was a culture of Hollywood in which young people are preyed upon by older men. Two months later, five women came forward to accuse Franco of sexual exploitation; Franco denied these claims but apologized for making his co-stars “feel uncomfortable.”
I am
The first time I met Harvey Weinstein was at the Venice Film Festival. My manager at the time introduced us in front of a crowded restaurant by the water. Harvey could not have been kinder or more welcoming to me, and he remained so as we shot our scenes together over the following month.
He gave me my first big break as an actor in “Pineapple Express,” a role I worked very hard on preparing and developing with David Gordon Green and Judd Apatow. He then had me do “Milk,” with Gus Van Sant, and then “127 Hours” with Danny Boyle.
In that same time period I also got to work on “This is the End,” written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, which was produced by Judd Apatow, Seth and Evan’s production company Point Grey Pictures, and James Weaver for Mandate Pictures.
All of these men have been very good to me over my career; none of them have ever treated me rudely or unprofessionally. They have all helped me with my career in one way or another.
As far back as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be an actor who could transform into many different characters. It’s why I became an actor in the first place. And
