James Franco

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q306403: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only person by that name on Wikidata.

Counted as actor. The films the hosts said they acted in, which the two lists below run through too: Knocked Up (2007); 127 Hours (2010); Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011); This Is the End (2013); Alien: Covenant (2017); (Unnamed) film casting James Franco as Castro. Count them as craft (1 film) instead.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

Aliens (1986): 2 lines

lineage (lineage) · through Alien: Covenant (2017), which they acted in: Aliens ⇒ Alien: Covenant (the host's read). The shoulder-mounted GoPro cameras are carried over from the Marines in Aliens.
“which the Marines all have in aliens”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:40:52 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage) · through Alien: Covenant (2017), which they acted in: Aliens ⇒ Alien: Covenant (the host's read). The loader and airlock set piece homages the power loader fight in Aliens.
“But something about this feels closer to the power loader fight.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:55:53 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Back to the Future Part II (1989): 1 line

craft (craft) · through Alien: Covenant (2017), which they acted in: Back to the Future Part II ⇒ Alien: Covenant (the host's read). The double-Fassbender effect is an old trick established by Zemeckis in Back to the Future II.
“once again, shit established by Zameckis and back to the future too.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:09:38 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Charlie Kaufman: 1 line

lineage (lineage) · through This Is the End (2013), which they acted in: Charlie Kaufman ⇒ This Is the End (the maker said so: came up in the research). Goldberg said the film was meant to rip off little bits of Charlie Kaufman.
“He said the whole point of this movie, they're just trying to rip off little bits of Charlie Kaufman.”
The Rewatchables · ‘This Is the End’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Craig Horlbeck · 0:03:24 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)

Jay and Seth versus the Apocalypse: 1 line

lineage (lineage) · through This Is the End (2013), which they acted in: Jay and Seth versus the Apocalypse ⇒ This Is the End (the host's read). The movie grew out of the 8-minute short Rogen and Goldberg made.
“It was based on a short that, uh, Rogan and Goldberg did called Jay and Seth versus the Apocalypse.”
The Rewatchables · ‘This Is the End’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Craig Horlbeck · 0:13:50 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)

Mean Girls (2004): 1 line

lineage (lineage) · through Knocked Up (2007), which they acted in: Mean Girls ⇒ Knocked Up (the host's read). Bill thinks Mean Girls may have been the first to figure out 'more funny than romantic, but also having the romance'.
“I feel like mean girls might have been the 1st one that figured out.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Knocked Up’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Craig Horlbeck · 0:03:37 · Bill Simmons (0.85 sure it was them)

Pineapple Express (2008): 1 line

lineage (lineage) · through This Is the End (2013), which they acted in: Pineapple Express ⇒ This Is the End (the host's read). A weird spiritual sequel to Pineapple Express; Pineapple Express is the double feature pick.
“this is kind of like a weird spiritual sequel to Pineapple Express anyway.”
The Rewatchables · ‘This Is the End’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Craig Horlbeck · 1:03:18 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)

Prometheus (2012): 1 line

lineage (lineage) · through Alien: Covenant (2017), which they acted in: Prometheus ⇒ Alien: Covenant (the host's read). Covenant is half the Prometheus sequel Scott wanted and half a concession to a more normal Alien movie.
“this is half, like Ridley Scott doing the Prometheus sequel he wanted to do and half”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:06:57 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Starting Over: 1 line

lineage (lineage) · through Knocked Up (2007), which they acted in: Starting Over ⇒ Knocked Up (the host's read). Bill offers Starting Over (Burt Reynolds, a love triangle in Boston) as an early prototype of Apatow movies.
“It's got, it feels like a very early prototype of these Apatow movies.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Knocked Up’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Craig Horlbeck · 0:05:59 · Bill Simmons (0.90 sure it was them)

The Martian (2015): 1 line

industry (industry) · through Alien: Covenant (2017), which they acted in: The Martian ⇒ Alien: Covenant (the host's read). The Martian's success gave Scott leverage to make an odder Alien film.
“I forgot that the previous film to this is the Martian”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 1:19:20 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

When Harry Met Sally (1989): 1 line

lineage (lineage) · through Knocked Up (2007), which they acted in: When Harry Met Sally ⇒ Knocked Up (the host's read). Bill dates the rom-com boom as starting with When Harry Met Sally and running to the mid 2000s, with Knocked Up on the other side of the shift.
“It starts with when Harry Met Sally.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Knocked Up’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Craig Horlbeck · 0:03:12 · Bill Simmons (0.90 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

This Is 40: 2 lines

lineage (lineage) · through Knocked Up (2007), which they acted in: Knocked Up ⇒ This Is 40 (the host's read). Bill says halfway through the movie it becomes a Rudd and Mann movie, which becomes This Is 40.
“the movie pretty much becomes like a Rudd and man movie by the end of it.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Knocked Up’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Craig Horlbeck · 0:12:53 · Bill Simmons (0.75 sure it was them)
programming (programming) · through Knocked Up (2007), which they acted in: Knocked Up ⇒ This Is 40 (the host's read). Bill says the sequel is a more complicated movie than Knocked Up; Juliet says she doesn't like it as much.
“This is 40, that it was looming, which I think is a more complicated movie than this movie.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Knocked Up’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Craig Horlbeck · 0:44:31 · Juliet Litman (0.50 sure it was them)

Bridesmaids (2011): 1 line

lineage (lineage) · through Knocked Up (2007), which they acted in: Knocked Up ⇒ Bridesmaids (the host's read). Bill frames Bridesmaids as Apatow's answer to the criticism of the female lead in Knocked Up.
“And bridesmaids is the mic trap, right?”
The Rewatchables · ‘Knocked Up’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Craig Horlbeck · 0:11:00 · Bill Simmons (0.85 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

What was said about them, by kind

industry (1)

industry (industry): Christian Bale → James Franco. Last year's winner of the same award was James Franco, who was soon blown out of the frame, showing how frivolous the show is.
“The answer is James Franco.”
The Big Picture · Instant Reactions to a Truly Ludicrous Golden Globes | The Oscars Show (Ep. 115) · 0:38:46 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

verdict (1)

verdict (verdict): James Franco → Alien: Covenant. The cut online prologue with Franco should have stayed in the film because his death weighs on the lead.
“I remember feeling very strongly, that should have been in the movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Alien: Covenant · 0:17:08 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

what-if (2)

what-if (casting what-if): James Franco → Mean Girls. Considered for Aaron Samuels; would have been darker, taken up space, and played up the satire.
“he kind of changes the energy of the, of the movie.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:52:19 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Ethan Hawke → James Franco. A modern actor like James Franco could not pull off Hawke's band performance.
“Like, think about if this is 10 years later, it's James Franco.”
The Rewatchables · ‘Reality Bites’ 25th Anniversary With Bill Simmons, Chuck Klosterman, and Chris Ryan · 0:47:05 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

None.