>> rose: welcome to our program. tonight a conversation withh james franco. >> i really feel that pop culture has become a major fabric in our lives. you cannot escape it. so we're way past the age of romantics where you can wander around the woods and that is your source material. our source, i grew up watching television every day. now people grow up engaging with the internet every day. and that becomes part of our lives. that is part of our makeup. it's just what you are engaged with. and so i feel like that is part of the material that i am going to use for the work that i do. >> rose: james franco for the hour next. >> funding for charlie rose was provided by the following: who beats the odds d comes out on top. but this isn't just a hollywood storyline. it's happening every day, all across america. every time a storefront opens. or the midnit oil is burned. or when someone chases a dream, not just a dollar. they are sll business owner so iyou wanna root for a real hero, support small business. shop small. additional funding provided by these funders: captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> rose: james franco san actor whose ambitions stretch well beyond his craft and he is pretty good at his craft. just this year he received an oscar nomination for his performance in 127 hours. franco's also a student, a screenwriter, a director, an author and an artist. most of all, he is not afraid to take chances. just this year he could hosted the academy award. he has exhibited his art at the a gallery in os los angeles. all the time pursuing his doctorate in english at yale. he is taking classes at rhode island school of design, at nyu and columbia. here is a look at some of his acting. >> you want to get lindsay back? you got to give her the cold shoulder. >> i don't know, man. that doesn't seem right, man. >> trust me. >> don't call her house. don't write her notes. and don't sing to her. jeez, man, we don't want to be friends with you after hearing about that one. >> yeah, we need our space. >> i love him. >> me too. >> you know, spiders can change their color to blend into their environment. >> really? >> yeah. it's a defense mechanism. >> cool. >> yeah. >> look out, look out. >> congratulations to you. part of the machine now. by the way, you can do better. >> when i come home to jack i don't have to talk politics. i don't have to talk intelligently. i don't have to talk at all. and besides, where is an ugly old man like me going to find a handsome man like that. >> you're not that old. and you look handsome. happy 48th. you think you're going to make it to 50 after old mr. milk. >> kill anyone lately? >> wow, i miss that. i really do. look, i could chat all night but i have to run. i have a big event to attend. very, very big deal. so that's what i get for spending my spring between a rock and a hard place. gosh, i hate cliches but that was funny, right? >> aaahhh! >> if i'm not mistaken it is a tradition that the best man gets to lay with the bridesmaid. plurals. >> really? i've never heard of this tradition. >> deal. >> oh, you are going to be so handsome. who's going to be the best handsome best man. >> probably me. >> who's the prince with the most dashing mustache. >> me. >> who gives the warmest hugs. >> me, of course. >> i love you. >> two weeks ago i met up with james franco at brown university during the ivie film festival. he sat before the student body in the auditorium and here is that conversation. >> hear's what is interesting about you. (laughter) >> rose: your work and your life. which is more interesting to you? >> the work that i've been doing at school or the projects that i do outside of the, you know, mainstream commercial film business is material that involves my life in different ways. and so, for example, i have just done an art film kind of piece where i have used other people's material, other films. i've cut them up. reedited them, reframed them, and added a voice over, my own voice-over. and it-- i call it the autobiography. and it's just about my life but i've used other people's images to help me tell the story. and so that is an example of how my work, you know, the film business and my life, my story come together. and i think in increasing can ways or increasingly it's more common that i bring my own life into the work. and not only do i-- commentators do, you know, it's-- something has happened where people will not, you know, just look at me as an actor or a character in a role any more. now there's something else that people are looking at and are curious about. which, you know, i mean, that was your first question. so i think-- something has happened. where -- >> and is it good. i mean do you think the fact that your life is such an object of attention that it may somehow influence your able to have the audience just see the character? >> yeah, well, when i was a young actor and i was at school, my teacher, my first acting teacher always emphasized that you shouldn't do-- shows where you come out and talk to people like charlie rose because you'll reveal too much of yourself. and then people will lose the ability to see you as different characters. and people from-- everywhere from al pacino to stephen soderbergh, i've heard them say similar things. but i don't have that fear any more because i'm not only an actor any more. i mean i still enjoy acting but i-- and i'm very grateful for the career i've had and all the opportunities i've had and the people i've gotten to work with. but i have this whole other side of my life now. and i can-- i mean if i'm honest with myself i've been very fortunate. i'm very happy with all these performances t there are other performances that you could have shown that i wouldn't be so happy with, but everything here, i can say yeah, i did some good work. and so, and i've been fortunate. it's not-- that is what we just saw is not just the result of me or stuff i've done. it's also been luck, it's been, there have been gifts. just opportunities handed to me. so i consider myself very fortunate. and if that went away, you know, tomorrow and i didn't have an acting career any more, i don't think i would have cause to complain. i've been pretty fortunate up to now. >> rose: and it gives you the opportunity to do all the exploration you want to do. >> exactly. so it's kind of the risk i had to take. it's something i told myself, if i want to do these personal projects that don't really fall in line with a traditional kind of acting career or, you know, i mean all coming-- i've been acting professionally for like 15 years now. and it's just, you know, you just kind of are told certain things or you just learn certain things like oh, that's a good career move. or that's-- you know, something you should do for a good career. and i had to say well, if i want to do these other kinds of projects i'm going to have to-- . >> rose: sacrifice career, is that what you said. >> yeah. the ironic thing is when i did go back to school, then i got the opportunity to work with some of my favorite decters, danny boyle and so it's not like i said wow, i'm never going to do a good movie again. but-- . >> rose: when you went to ucla and then dropped out t was because of a love for acting. >> yes. >> rose: you went back to ucla because the acting thing had what? >> right. so-- no, it's true. i went to ucla when i was 18. i am applied to brown. i didn't get in. i really wanted to go to art school, actually. i was more of an artist when i was a teenager then an actor. i only started acting when i was about 17 or 18. so i wanted to go to art school and my parents weren't big on that idea. they didn't want to pay for it i actually really wanted to go to-- but they didn't even let me apply. they said they wouldn't pay for it. >> rhode island school of design. >> right, where i am now. >> where he is now entered into one of their programs. and so the compromise was that i would go and i could study english. my father wanted me to study mathematics but i studied english if i went to a regular university. and so i was there and i moved to l.a. and you know, half the city was acting. and it was something that i had, you know, also wanted to do for a long time but had only recently started. and so i hadn't applied for the acting school at ucla as an incoming freshman. so they said i would have to wait until i was a junior to even oddician for that program. and that two years sounded like a lifetime at that minute. and so i left school and i went to acting school. and then about eight years later i had been working. i had done some things i was proud of. i was on freaks and geeks. i played james dean and actually that was the first time i met you was at the premier for james dean. >> exactly. >> rose: . >> seems like just yesterday. >> rose: it does. >> and i, but then and i put everything into my acting. you know, i would sign on to movies eight, nine months in advance and literally prepare every day for these roles. because i thought-- i was just obsessed. i wanted to be the best actor i could be. and the funny thing about acting is in film, is that your performances are filtered through this larger apparatus. >> rose: right. >> and you can learn all you want about a character. so let's say i'm playing a meddive el night. like i could learn you know, read all the history, all the, you know,-- to arthur that i want but we're only going to tell one-story in that movie. and so at a certain point the research becomes excess. and maybe it will inform your performance. maybe there will be some nuances that you, you know, have that you wouldn't have if you didn't do all of that. but about 70% of the research would just go kind of unused. it would never be seen in the movie. and that was very frustrating to me. where, you know, if you are's writing a book or if you are directing a movie or writing a film, then you choose what is in the movie. but as an actor, usually you're given the role beforehand. so your control is limit. and that's fine. i've accepted that. i have accepted that film is a director's medium. when i sign on to a movie now i know i'm helping somebody else tell his or her story. but at the same time i accepted that, i also said to myself, well, i want to do other things, if that's how it's going to be. if acting is going to be, you know, this job where i'm servicing somebody else's vision, then i want to have other outlets where i can do my vision. >> rose: so after having several movies that didn't do as well as some might have hoped. >> well, that was the kind of eye opener. >> rose: right. >> i means that's what, i did these movies that i just plainly shouldn't have done. i worked very hard on them. but they were movies that i would put in the category of things people said well this would be good for your career. but not necessarily things that i would say to myself well, this is the movie i've always wanted to do. you know, i didn't, i wasn't always dreaming of playing tris tan in tris tan's -- >> you know. but this is, somebody said to me, this is-- . >> rose: this will make your career better. >> somebody even said to me, back in the studio days, when the studio had everybody under contract and had much more of a say in what people what projects actors did, directors did, and everyone did, somebody said that was better. because the actor doesn't know. the actor doesn't know what role is right for him. and i was a young, impressionable guy and i thought yeah, i don't know. maybe this is a great thing. >> rose: and it turn ited out it wasn't a great thin. >> it wasn't. it was an eye opener. and i said i can't do this any more. and maybe nobody will believe me but i really couldn't continue acting in that way. i couldn't continue acting if it was going to be like that, doing movies where i didn't enjoy the process. and i didn't like the results. i mean i couldn't work that way. >> rose: so you went back to ucla. >> yeah. >> rose: to study. >> english and creative writing. yeah. >> rose: and you have been on this pursuit even though you've had a lot of successful movies, it seems that the less you wanted it, the more it came to you. >> well yeah, that was the weird thing. you know, i-- i went back to school. and then i did that movie pineapple express and i was at a point where you know, in those other movies i had been working so hard that i would come to a set like on tristan and sole, i would come to a set with a very firm idea of how i thought the character should be played. and a lot of my ideas clashed with the directors. and so, and it's hard for me to let it go because of all the work i had done on my own. and so my experiences on set were very contentious. i was not an easy actor to work with, sadly. so pineapple express was really the first film where i just said, okay, you know, i'm with people that, my old friends from freaks and geeks. >> rose: seth and judd. >> yeah, and then david gordon green like worked in a similar way, very improvisational. and i just thought, all right, i don't need to have control here. i can just roll with what they're doing. and i'm just going to have fun. and it changed my approach to filmmaking. so that was also a big kind confi turning point. at the same time that i went back to school. and then i did him milk and again it was like, a movie that i could, you know, be really proud of, just being a part of. >> rose: directed by guess vansant. >> yeah, probably my favorite director. i don't know t was a weird turn of events. i guess maybe when i stopped being so stubborn. >> rose: think about what you are doing with your time. this is what people ask about you. you are working on a ph.d at yale, yes. are you going to the rhode island school of design, yes. you are going to the new york university film school. >> yes. >> rose: you got your masters degree in fill tlm. >> momentarily. i am done with my thesis. >> rose: what did you do with your thesis. >> nyu was film so i made a feature length film about i poet heart crane. >> rose: and a movie. >> i made t i just showed it at boston college, a very rough cut because the biographer who wrote the biography i used for my film palm mariannei teaches at boston college so we just showed a rough cut but it will officially premier at the los angeles film festival. so that was-- . >> rose: you went down to north car china my home state to the poet school. >> yeah. >> rose: did that. so people ask, you are in search of what? >> well, i just like-- these are all the interests that i have had since i was a teenager. i was a painter when i was, before i was an actor. i studied english, you know in school. and so these are all interests of mine. and i just, i like the idea of being able to tell, you know, deliver my subject matter in the best form possible. and so i don't think every subject is fit for a movie. but it maybe it would be better told in a book or you know, like if you you want to make a political piece, poetry probably isn't the best way. but you know, maybe make a documentary or something luke that. so i like that freedom. but i also like the idea of examining how these different forms of medium interact. >> rose: and how they blend together. >> how they blend. what their limitations are. >> rose: how do you do it? i mean you think any of the number of things you do and making three movies a year. and in fact, last year got nominated for an academy award for one of those performances. >> yeah. and i was going to school while i was doing that performance. so nobody could say that i was being stretched thin. i got nominated. so i don't know what i could have done differently. so yeah, i'm stretched. i mean i'm very busy. >> rose: and that's what you like, being busy? >> i find that if i have free time it just get filled. i do do that to myself. but i also don't feel like i need to be the best at everything. i am pursuing these things not to like necessarily master them. i'm pursuing them in what i think is a very humble way. and i am happy that i am just engaged with them. and i, you know, i think one of the reasons that people get, are skeptical of an acker who writes a book or comes can out with an album is because they're skeptical of sell reb-- celebrity, that, you know, an actor can get a book published where, you know, somebody that is not, does not have that kind of celebrity would maybe have a harder time. and that's true. but i never said i was going to be the best author. i'm just trying to, you know, write the best book that i can. and i never thought it was going to be, you know, ulysses. but it's the level that i wanted to tell it at. and if i aim for ulysses, it would be horrible. i'm happy at the level i aimed at. and i think-- i'm very happy with the book. and that's kind of how i feel about all of these things. i never said i was going to go out and be the best director or the best writer or anything. i just want to do these things because there are certain subjects that i want to tell in a different way. >> rose: some people would look at you and they say, he understands that this gives him a kind of different persona. and that that builds into an image of james franco. >> uh-huh. some bloggers like to say like i'm a superweird guy. you know, i don't know why. like what's so weird. i'm like going to school. like i could be doing-- i could be doing a lot weirder things. i mean-- . >> rose: and did you when you were a teenager. >> yeah, i did some weird things, yeah. (laughter) >> but part of that, i think, is because of certain projects i've done. so on general hospital i play a character named franco who is a bad artist. and he is also a serial killer. and he is creepy. he's creepy. he's a creepy guy. but there is enough kind of crossover with my own life that people maybe look at that and say oh, that's james. but i guess what's the interesting thing about that project is or when people start making comments like that is we're all performing. i mean we're all performing. i am performing right now, you know, i mean i don't-- it's you, at's charlie rose. i have tons of respect for you. and you are asking me certain kinds of questions. and we're at brown university. and so-- whoo! (laughter) >> if i was with a friend, you know, i would maybe say stuff that had similar content but i would be behaving differently. and so-- and so that's why, like tom cruise can, like, show a lot of energy in "jerry maguire" and get applauded. and then if he jumps on the couch on oprah, people don't like that. but they're still performances. i mean it's hard to draw the line. >> rose: right. >> and so i guess if my project make people think about me and my life as a possible performance, i don't mind that. maybe that's becoming part of my project. >> rose: but take what you just said. let's take general hospital for a second. >> yes, let's talk about that. >> rose: you initiated that, did you not? because you and your friend had been thinking about soap operas and maybe this and that. and then you said why not a real soap opera. >> right. >> rose: so you write a letter to the people at general hospital or call them up and say i have two conditions. one is there's got to be an artist. >> yeah. >> rose: and the second is he has got to be crazy. >> yeah, you got it. >> rose: and so the name of the character is franco. >> they came up with that. >> rose: that was their idea. (laughter) >> and i didn't know what would happen. but what did happen is there was a huge reaction. people said what is he doing? you know, big papers, i don't know, "new york times" or whatever started writing about a soap opera. and so i realized wow, this is, you know, something has happened here. people are looking at this with fresh eyes. there has been a rupture. >> rose: looking at soap operas with fresh eyes. >> not just that but just hopefully performance, entertainment, that i came from the film world. people, you know, say there's kind of no hierarchy. but there is a hierarchy. people view, you know, films as a higher form of entertainment than soap operas. but actually there's, you know, i guess they are dying out. maybe they are going to reality shows and jerry springer or something. but all these soap operas are being cancelled. but there is a large number of people that find satisfaction in watching soap operas. and that's their level of entertainment. d i started thinking well, yeah, why is this kind of any less. i mean they're telling stories. they're just telling it in kind of a different way, and actually, underneath half of the huge budget movies that are in cineple x's don't have stories that are any deeper than what is on soap operas it is just that they have more money to turn people into vampires and have them, you know. >> rose: anmore fireworks. >> yeah. so i thought it was a real chance to kind confi examine that. and i was getting also great feedback from artists that i respected. you know, they would say wow, james, you are lucky. there are a lot of artists that i know that would kill for that kind of forum or, you know, that kind of outlet. and so what happened is there was a weird blending. it's like i'm going on a open opera and i'm not trying to wink. or i'm not trying to disrupt the soap opera. i go on the soap opera and i'm trying to act as well as i can with the material they give me. >> rose: you liked idea of sort of contradictions. you like the idea of somehow bridging all of these arenas. >> well, i do for several reasons. a lot of energy is generated. you know, there was a huge response to that. whether it was good or bad, there was a huge response. people-- people perk up when you mix high and low. but in addition, i really feel that pop culture has become a major fabric in our lives. you cannot escape it. so we're way past the age of romantics where you can wander around the woods and that is your source material. our source material-- i grew up watching television every day. now people grow up engaging with the internet every day. and that becomes part of our lives. that is part of our makeup. it is just what you are engaged with. and so i feel like that is part of the material that i am going to use for the work that i do. and so in this autobiography piece that i'm talking about, i have used films other people's films but in a way i feel like they're just part of my life too. i, i am-- inextricably engaged with that stuff. and so that is my source material. just as much as my life experience, relationships i've had. other movies. other books. other television shows. internet content, whatever, is now part of my life. and so i feel free to use that whether people consider it low culture or not, that is what everybody knows and part of the artists or some artists job is to tell us who we are. and so i need to use that material. >> some will say it's really interesting simply because james is doing it. >> that is, that's kind of the phenomenon about that i was just talking about with general hospital. where that project only worked because i went from spiderman films to soap operas. that is the only reason it got that kind confi attention that it did. and so that is dependent on me being me or my career or everything that i've done before. and there are other projects like that. now that persona, whatever that is, links all these projects. >> rose: your persona links the projects. >> so you could look at everything i'm doing as just in every direction. but for me i feel like there are-- . >> rose: the central point of it all at the centre of it all is you. >> yeah. and i feel like they all share something. whether, you know, and it's not just that i'm doing it. it's that i am trying to bring something again written to each of them. whether my craft is at the top of its game or not, i'm trying to bring something genuine to each. >> rose: what's interesting about it is you are not afraid to take a risk. >> no, because that's what people-- that's what artists are allowed to do. actors aren't allowed to do that in the same way. actors are supposed to deliver good performances and then let the movie speak for themselves. artists and musicians have a different medium can. and they're allowed to bring more of the personal to their work. there's an artist that went to rhode island school of design named-- he makes these medium they call it art in the age of youtube. and they are wacky kind of videos where the characters, they're i guess narratives if you look really hard, there are narratives but it really hard to find, even understand what they are saying. they modulate their voice so drastically. but he said look, we are a culture that is getting more and more used to embarrassing ourselves. i mean you look at youtube, everybody is just posting everything, you know what i mean. so you can see everything. and embarrassment used to be something that really held me back. like oh, i don't want to do that because i just didn't want to look bad. >> rose: but now. >> now i don't-- i don't care as long as i know that my intentions are pure, or i have, you know, the right motives. trying something new, trying to find something new. and if that means that i'm going to fail, it's okay. i'm going to thake that risk. >> rose: are you saying you are going to someplace in which acting may not play a central a role in your life as it does now. >> certainly. if you look at where i spend most of my time it's not in acting any more. i will sign on to a movie and i will do my homework and work as hard as i can because it's my job. and i owe it to the film and the director to do that. but in my own time, you know, i'm not going to acting class. i'm going to other kinds of programs. and so my life has become something else. at least for me. but i need the acting. you know. >> rose: you need it because? >> because that's what makes everything else more vital. because i'm this actor that's not supposed to be doing these other things. and that's what gives the other things a lot of energy. >> rose: and it also might inform the acting so it will take it to another level? >> maybe. but i mean i feel-- . >> rose: you feel what? >> i feel like-- wz what? >> i mean i'm not saying it in an arrogant way. i just feel like i-- i am comfortable with my acting. like i feel like yeah, i want to chall owning myself but i feel like if i, if a director asks me to do a role, you know, i usually feel like, i won't sign on unless i think i can do it. and i usually, you know, feel like i can do it. like i've never-- i can't remember going on to a movie and thinking oh, yeah, i'm to the going to pull this off. >> rose: yeah. how tough was 127 for you because it's you and your face and, i mean, you know this is a very contained picture. >> yeah, like that's an example where, you know, you say oh, you know, it's all on your shoulders there are no other actors for most of the movie. and isn't that scary. and no, i mean-- . >> rose: you knew going in you had that performance in you. >> no, danny, i mean danny certainly pulled a lot out of me. and i think he got the best of me. but i knew like i thought okay, here is a performance that is dependent on a lot of physical action. they're telling the story through these minute little victories and failures. and that is what is propelling it. the guy, basically the guy wants to get out and he can't. and so all along the way he's going to be trying to get out and not getting out. and trying and then facing himself. so i thought well with w if they pull it off in the right way, it will be a very vital performance because in a strange way it's following the old adage of show, don't tell. so it's like in the age of-- in the elizabethan agements playwrights there is no subtext, shakespeare is saying everything, right. then we move to the age of realism and there is subtext, right. well now in this movie it's like, there's not even text. it's just all like behavior. >> yeah. >> and so it will be like an even more kind of immediate experience. and the audience will be reading the signs of behavior rather than hearing the character say what he is feeling. but in addition to that, when the character does speak, he's speaking to this video camera. and that's oriented in such a way that although he is ostensibly talking to his family and loved ones, he's talking right into the lens. and so i am looking, i'm going to be looking right out at the audience so it's almost like a youtube video core skype where i'm talking directly to the audience. and so it's like a first person kind of delivery to the audience or one-to-one kind of engagement. and so again, that's an even more, even closer kind of engagement with the audience. and i thought, all right, if we have a good director, and danny boyle being one of our best living directors, then this could be a very dynamic film. and so, and i think that's what it is i mean the response i got was like that was -- it's crazy. like the character is just stuck in a canyon. but it felt like the most action packed movie i've seen. >> rose: the dynamic was there. >> and i think that a lot of that is because of that. and i guess i like to think i had that feeling before. >> rose: danny says that you came to him and you said look, you know what do you want james to do. >> i don't know why he said that like i was talking about myself as another person. >> rose: that, yes. did you say it or not. >> i don't know about that. i challenged him on that after i heard him say that i don't normally think that way, of like what does james want to eat rye now. -- right now. >> rose: but he basically said you said, look, you came to him and you said these are the tools i have. and you know, which one, these are the tools i have. which ones do you want to use. >> yeah, i mean i do say that i do think that way, whereas a younger actor, i thought that i should control the performance. now that i've gone through film school and i understand what directors have to deal with, you know, director, you know, at least the kind of directors i like and the kind of director i want to be are collaborators, right. that means they're collaborating with all these different departments and the ackers are just kind of one department. with so you want to work with actors working with you, not actors you have to fight with on set. so now when i sign on to a movie i want to be like the wardrobe people i see that say to the director okay what do you think, okay, all right. i means that's how every other department works. it's just that in the acting department sometimes its's not that way. and there's, you know, and i'm sure there are cinematographers that demand to do this this way or whatever. but like i now view acting as a could collaborative craft that i and my characters as collaborations that i work on with the director-- director. and so that's why i say to danny, what i can do and-- tell me what you want. >> rose: i hear you. here is what is interesting too about all the rest of your life. are you interested in poetry, you are interested in writing novels. are you interested in painting. most of those things are solitary acts of creation. >> uh-huh. >> rose: you also seem to love the idea of could collaboration. >> yes. yes. i do. and maybe one of the reasons that i go to school for something like writing is because it does pet me in touch with other peers that are writing and also my favorite writers. because the fact is most writers have to teach. and so by going to a great writing school like brooklyn college or columbia or warren wilson, i get the chance to work with my favorite writers. and it's akin to, you know, doing a movie with danny boyle. i get to work with you know one of my favorite directors. >> rose: you also wanted to work with, what was it, what was it, you wanted to do howl because did guess do that. >> gust produced it. it was directed by these documentary filmmakers rob epstein and jesse freedman who had directed the documentary about harvey milk. >> rose: and you also wanted to do eat, pray, love, what was it called. >> well, that was-- . >> rose: because julia roberts was in it. you wanted to work with julia roberts. >> yeah. >> rose: because? >> i mean, i guess the story is like i wanted to kiss julia roberts. >> rose: i didn't say any of that. i didn't say any of that. i'm just looking at the idea that you took the opportunity because you get to work with artists whether the director or cinematographer or an actor. >> you look at the payoff. the cost and the payoff it was a week of work. it's a movie that i probably would never see. and i actually still haven't seen. i have just been busy. >> rose: you're busy. >> but yes, i get to go in and work for a week with the queen of that kind of movie, why not. >> rose: fair enough. i agree. >> you know. and yeah, i was happy i did it. she was great, she was fab route. and i'm sure i learned something. >> rose: what had you learned about acting that has enabled you to have the sense that you got this craft. you understand it. you can deliver on it? >> several things. i mean you need, you know, usually i would say you need practice and it's a craft. but it's only a craft if you want to play different kinds of characters. because we've all seen examples of somebody with no acting experience coming in and giving an incredible performance. you see young people do it. or you know, even just people that aren't trained in acting, the bicycle thieve, right, nonactor. but you, the performance is so compelling. now i don't even know that actor's name but i wouldn't then say i bet he would make a great, you know, king lear. like i just wouldn't trust his craft to go and do that. >> rose: exactly right. >> so what that says to me is you should know the roles that you can play. and do those roles. now that's not to say go out of your-- go out of your comfort zone. and if you go way out of your comfort zone then be, you know, prepare yourself for possible failure. but if you want to deliver the kinds of performances that people respond to, then know what you can do. and what that means, and why you do that is so you request relax into the role. in movies usually what people, you know, consider good acting is when you don't see the person acting. >> right. >> and that's because the person is so relaxed in what they are doing that it feels like living. that's just one kind of acting. if you said, you know, brett, like what's good acting. you would say, well, i want the actor to like draw a ton of attention to himself and the fact that he's acting. it's just one kind of acting and what we've grown to expect in film and mostly american. >> how much of what your skill as an actor comes from acting classes. how much of it comes from within you? >> i don't know. i went to school for eight years. so i mean i can't ignore that. >> with you got something out of it. >> yeah. >> so but now the roles that i, you know, am happy with and are proud of are ones where i kind of go with my instincts. so whatever that is inside me that's telling me to do certain things, i guess you could says that's me. i don't know where it came from. >> some convergence between skill and instinct. >> yeah. >> when you did the oscars were you in your comfort zone? >> yeah. i was. the oscars are a sensitive subject. >> rose: why? why is it sensitive. i mean you are a man who has tried everything. we've already said that you are not scared of what people might say. you want the experience. you are prepared to go out there you're not trying to be ulysses, you are trying to be -- >> yeah. and i said it beforehand. i did a twitter thing before the oscars and said this could be horrible. and it's to the because i went out there and tried to sabotage it or because i was ill rehearsed. i mean, go and look at the script. i mean all i'm saying is the next presenter is vi degrees of separation from me, jake gillen hall, i don't need rehearsal to do that. >> rose: coy do that. >> so i don't want to blame everyone else. it's just that i guess all i want to say is yes, i tried it. i knew that-- of course i knew there was a huge possibility for failure. and if you liss everyone to the critics, they didn't like what i did. but i am not going to-- it's not because i was going to school, because i was stretched thin, because i was high on marijuana or because i was trying to sabotage the oscars. >> rose: none of that. >> no. i went out there and tried to deliver those lines as well as i knew how. and like i said, i have faith in myself as a performer. so i just did the best i could with what i was given. and that is it. i mean i don't-- i never dreamed of becoming the best oscar host. in fact, i don't, i'm glad i'm not the best oscar host. so in a way, it was kind of an experience. but i guess the thing that is upsetting or the thing that makes it so uncomfortable to talk about is that people were, the critics were so vicious afterwards. but like why, why do they care so much about the oscar host. it's a hint critical thing. like everybody complains about how the oscars at the end of a long award season and that they are always boring, they're always too long. and that they don't care about the oscar presentation any more. but then if you don't do it right, then it is their excuse to like go after you. and so it's just a weird thing. it's like i'm become criticized for something that i honestly tried my best at. and but i also like you know, don't care that i wasn't the best. >> rose: i will never mention this again. let me ask you this finally. we're here at brown. this is a film festival. if you and i came back here in ten years, what do you think you would be doing? where do you think you will be? what are you, 32, 33? >> i just had my 33rd birthday. >> okay, there you go. 33. you will be 43. (laughter) >> rose: no? >> yeah. >> rose: george clooney is celebrating soon his 50th birthday. >> really. >> rose: well, he's a director, screenwriter. >> amateur basketball player. >> rose: amateur basketball player. >> he's the coffee dude in europe. >> rose: no but he's done a lot in sudan. put a satellite in the air to watch troop movement. >> incredible. he said one thing, like you know, yeah, you don't have to just sell things with celebrity. qu actually do some good things. some amazing things. it's very inspiring. i think i will just be doing more of the same. >> rose: of course will you then be dr. franko. >> i will. i will be teaching. but i'm going to be teaching next year. so i think it will just be-- . >> rose: where are you teaching next year. >> at nyu, in the grad program. >> rose: but you're teaching now this editing program. what's it called? >> just tell me. >> no. >> rose: please, tell me the title. >> it's not true. you've just been reading the blog. >> rose: no, i haven't. it's not true. >> i did a project with my friend who teaches at the school called columbia school of the arts. >> rose: in redwood, california. >> tarzana near l.a.. he is an editing teacher. he did-- . >> rose: what is the name of it. >> i don't even know what it's called because i didn't title it. and i-- it was a project where because tyler is my friend, he was in a lot of these video projects with me and shot all of these things, he has all this material of me. so the project was to lend my persona and have these editing students cut together that material in any way that they liked. and so it's material just like this right now, it's material, little projects i've done that nobody's seen, it's home movies, everything. to examine just how a person behaves in different environments. and i think that's, when you say that the silly title like editing james franco with james franco or something like that it sounds like the most self-centered. >> rose: i didn't say that. >> it sounds like the most self-centered thing in the world saying i'm there saying-- doing like this, like -- darnd i want you all to note the date i-- you know, got my first acting or something like that. you know what i mean. >> rose: i do. >> it's not that at all. it's, it was actually a very vulnerable act saying here is my life. and you can cut it up and make me look however you want. because frankly, that's what all these news outlets, reviewers, movies, these promotional tours, they are all framing me in different ways and you know, it's sort of me but it's also kind of not me. and so i wanted to just give it to a bunch of filmmakers and say all right, what do you kind of make of it. but also bring themselves into it. so they ever's a big part of the movie. it was a group collaboration. and there's a film now. but it's-- but i just did two skype phone calls. it wasn't like i was lecturing about myself. >> rose: it seems to me that you are living proof of the examined life. >> yeah. i just see it as a way to take some ownership over me and my life. i went into acting. i didn't, i wasn't unaware that it would, if i became suggest zsesful, you know, put me in the public eye to a certain extent. but by examining it in the ways that i'm doing, it is a way for the actor, for me the actor to take back some control. and i did. i get calls from studios that i'm working with. i don't but my manager does. like. >> he's a movie star. tell him to be a movie star. and what that means is shut up. don't say anything that rocks the boat. don't, you know, just go and act your roles and promote the movies in a funny and charming can way. that's what be a movie star means. and it's not like i want to go on the charlie sheen tour and like, you know, you know, just, i don't know. i don't know what he says at those things. i have no desire to go and just be like wild and crazy and like just for the sake of it. but i also am not happy having a lot of other people shape who i am and tell me how i'm supposed to be. >> rose: at brown university, please join me in thanking james franco. (cheers and applause) >> funding for charlie rose has been provided by thee coca-cola company, supporting this program since 2002. >> and american express. additional funding provided by these funders. >> and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide.