Actor-director James Franco discussed
his fascination with queer culture in this month's Rolling Stone
cover story.
Franco, who has played gay numerous
times (Milk, Wild Horses, Howl, I Am Michael) and fanned
rumors about his sexuality – “I'm gay up to the point of
intercourse,” he
said last year, suggested that heterosexual storylines are stale.
“When I was studying at NYU, I took
classes in critical studies, and one of my favorites was on queer
cinema,” he
said. “We've told the straight, heteronormative stories ad
nauseam by now, in our movies, our shows, our commercials –
everywhere. I think it's healthy to make work that disrupts and
questions that, and shows alternative narratives. That's what an
artist should do.”
Franco added that he's benefited from
the rumors about this sexuality.
“One of the nice things about all the
speculation is that it's a smokescreen,” Franco said. Rolling
Stone added that it's a way for him to hide out in plain sight.