The James Franco controversy explored as he talks about the end of his 20 year friendship with Seth Rogen

James Franco finally took the lid off his falling out with Seth Rogen, a longtime friendship that ended after years of controversy. Franco gave a rare update on his friendship with Rogen in an interview with Variety on Friday, October 25, 2024. When asked if he's still in touch with the Canadian actor and comedian, Franco replied:

"No. I haven't talked to Seth. I love Seth, we had 20 great years together, but I guess it's over."

However, the end of their friendship doesn't appear to be James Franco's choice. He told Variety that he had tried reaching out to Seth Rogen but to no avail. He explained:

"And not for the lack of trying. I've told him how much he's meant to me."

The actor's comments came years after his friend and longtime collaborator said he would never work with him again. Franco and Rogen first worked together in the famed series Freaks and Geeks in the 90s. They also worked in Pineapple Express, The Interview, The Disaster Artist, and This Is the End.

Initially, when James Franco got embroiled in a controversy, facing multiple se*ual misconduct allegations, Rogen was there to support his longtime friend. He told Vulture in 2018 that, despite the allegations, he would keep working with Franco.

However, he changed his mind in 2021. Rogen told The Sunday Times that their working relationship had come to an end. He also revealed that his and Franco's friendship has been impacted by the controversy, saying:

"I can say it, um, you know, it has changed many things in our relationship and our dynamic."

That said, Rogen did not specify if his friendship with Franco was over at the time.

---

Exploring the James Franco controversy as the actor gears up for a movie comeback

James Franco is currently in Rome for the launch of his new movie Hey Joe. It's an Italian drama film directed by Claudio Giovannesi that will premiere on October 25 at the Rome Film Festival and will be released in movie theaters on November 28. The new movie is only Franco's second film release since he was accused of being se*ually inappropriate by several women in 2018.

Franco won the Golden Globe trophy in 2018 while wearing a Time's Up pin in support of sexual harassment victims at the event. However, the 11.22.63 actor was slammed with several harassment allegations shortly after. Five women accused the actor of "inappropriate or s*xually exploitative behavior," per a Los Angeles Times report at the time.

He initially denied the allegations but he was slammed with a lawsuit alleging the same inappropriate behavior in 2019. Actresses Toni Gaal and Sarah Tither-Kaplan sued the actor's production company and two of his business partners for allegedly se*ually exploiting female students in his acting school, Studio 4.

The suit claimed that Franco and the other men "misused' their power by "dangling the opportunity for roles" in Franco's projects and "engaged in widespread inappropriate and s*xually charged behavior" towards the students. While James Franco denied that he slept with anybody from the class called "S*x Scenes" taught in his school, which was outlined in the suit, he admitted that he did sleep with some students.

In an interview with SiriusXM's The Jess Cagle podcast in December 2021, he revealed:

"I didn't sleep with anybody in that particular class, but over the course of my teaching, I did sleep with students, and that was wrong."

Elsewhere in the podcast, he attributed some of his behavior to his history of addiction but denied that he was creating a "pipeline" for sexual exploitation like he was being accused of. In 2021, the actresses dropped the lawsuit after James Franco and his co-defendants paid them $2.2 million in settlement.