James Franco Sets Acting Return 4 Years After Sexual Misconduct Allegations

Mar. 15, 2025

James Franco.Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty

James Francois getting back into his acting career four years after being faced with sexual misconduct allegations.

According toThe Hollywood Reporter, the 44-year-old Oscar nominee has been cast as a fisherman in the coming-of-age period dramaMe, Youfrom director Bille August, who made movies like 1993’sThe House of the Spiritsand 1998’sLes Misérablesadaptation. Production begins in September, the outlet reported, and the cast also includes Tom Hollander and Daisy Jacob.

“I am excited to board this phenomenal project and to be working with the legendary Bille August. I’m a huge fan of his work, andMe, Youis a truly brilliant script,” Franco said in a statement.

THRadded that Franco is also starring in the upcoming action movieMace. His most recent roles include voicing a character in the 2019 movieArctic Dogsand the third and final season of HBO’sThe Deucethat same year.

James Franco.Brian Ach/Getty

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Last year, Francoreached a deal withTither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal — two of his former acting students whofiled a sexual misconduct lawsuitagainst him in 2019. Records from the Los Angeles Superior Court at stated that he agreed topay $2,235,000 in the settlement.

Francobroke his silence in Decemberon SiriusXM’sThe Jess Cagle Podcast, saying that he’d “been doing a lot of work” on himself. He revealed that he struggled with sex addiction for years after becoming sober from alcohol at a young age.

Additionally, he admitted that he “cheated on everyone” before his current relationship with girlfriendIsabel Pakzadand he could “never be faithful to anybody.” Franco said he became “completely blind to power dynamics or anything like that, but also completely blind to people’s feelings.”

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“I didn’t want to hurt people. In fact, I wasn’t really a one-night-stand guy. People that I got together with or dated, I’d see them for a long time, years. It’s just that I couldn’t be present for any of them. And the behavior spun out to a point where it was like I was hurting everybody,” he said at the time.

“In addition to being blind about power dynamics, Franco is completely insensitive to, and still apparently does not care about, the immense pain and suffering he put his victims through with this sham of an acting school,” read the statement. “It is unbelievable that even after agreeing to a settlement he continues to downplay the survivors' experiences and ignore their pain, despite acknowledging he had no business starting such a school in the first place.”

“This wasn’t a misunderstanding over a course name, it wasn’t the result of him being overworked — it was, and is, despicable conduct,” the statement continued. “Nobody should confuse this interview with Franco taking accountability for his actions or expressing remorse over what happened. It is a transparent ducking of the real issues released just before a major holiday in hopes that he wouldn’t face any scrutiny over his response.”

source: people.com