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 other. The films the hosts said they were tied to, which the two lists below run through too: Mean Girls (2004). Count them as actor (6 films), 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.

Heathers (1988): 2 lines

  1. theme (genre DNA) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they were tied to as actor (considered for Aaron Samuels): Heathers ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read). Mean Girls is described as part Heathers and part after-school special; the ending was pushed away from Heathers toward the relatable.
    “This movie is like part Heathers and part after school special.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 1:11:54 · Juliet Litman (0.55 sure it was them)
  2. theme (character descent) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they were tied to as actor (considered for Aaron Samuels): Heathers ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read). Regina George is framed as the legacy of the original Heather (Kim Walker), the first Heather killed.
    “Regina George. To me is the legacy of the 3 Heathers and Heathers.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:29:42 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

Clueless (1995): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they were tied to as actor (considered for Aaron Samuels): Clueless ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read). Clueless brought the teen genre back and made it female; Mean Girls inherits that more female guiding hand.
    “Clueless brought the genre back and I think people missed it.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:07:10 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they were tied to as actor (considered for Aaron Samuels): Fast Times at Ridgemont High ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read). Simmons proposes a championship-belt lineage of smart teen movies starting with Fast Times and running through Mean Girls.
    “I feel like Fast Times at Ridgemont High was the 1st one.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:02:07 · Bill Simmons (0.85 sure it was them)

Pretty Woman (1990): 1 line

  1. industry (awards crossover) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they were tied to as actor (considered for Aaron Samuels): Pretty Woman ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read). The Vivian Award for best clothes started at the Pretty Woman rewatchables; here it is reversed for worst clothes.
    “We had the Vivian Award for best clothes in a movie that we started during the Pretty Women rewatchables”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Mean Girls’ With Bill Simmons, Juliet Litman, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:45:24 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

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

Mean Girls (2024): 3 lines

  1. unmapped (meta-joke) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they were tied to as actor (considered for Aaron Samuels): Mean Girls ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read). The new film turns the original's October 3rd meme into a meta bit by having a choir sing it.
    “they have like the choir go, it's October 3rd, you know, which like, that's at least like making a meta joke of it”
    The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:53:15 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (remake) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they were tied to as actor (considered for Aaron Samuels): Mean Girls ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read). The new film reuses the original's iconic lines and jokes nearly verbatim, which Sean found a little flat because no joke lands when you know it is coming.
    “they really do it verbatim, like, and so that's weird with a joke.”
    The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:52:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. craft (tone shift) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they were tied to as actor (considered for Aaron Samuels): Mean Girls ⇒ Mean Girls (the host's read). The musical sands the edges off the Plastics and replaces bite with empowerment, a generational update on the original's Tina Fey punchline comedy.
    “the edges are sanded off the plastics. And most of the jokes don't have the same bite.”
    The Big Picture · Oscar Nomination Predictions, ‘Mean Girls,’ and ‘All of Us Strangers’ With Andrew Scott · 0:54:59 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

Knocked Up (2007): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they were tied to as actor (considered for Aaron Samuels): 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)

Patricia Clarkson: 1 line

  1. craft (craft) · through Mean Girls (2004), which they were tied to as actor (considered for Aaron Samuels): Mean Girls ⇒ Patricia Clarkson (the host's read). Clarkson's cool-mom scene is a slight nod to Amy Poehler's cool mom in Mean Girls.
    “This is like a slight nod to mean girls, Amy Poehler, your dance is funny.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Easy A’ With Juliet Litman, Amanda Dobbins, and Shea Serrano · 1:13:41 · Juliet Litman (0.50 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Craft (1) everyone in craft

Acting (7) everyone in acting

Other (1) everyone in other

What was said about them, by kind

industry (1)

  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)

  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)

  1. 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)
  2. 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.