ABC’s pulling out all the stops to promote James Franco’s upcoming appearance on General Hospital. In this 60-second spot released to EW.com, Franco’s mysterious character may (or may not have) witnessed Claudia’s murder — but he sure seems mighty suspicious! For one, he wears all black. Two, he’s the guy behind all that strange graffiti, man! What do you think, non-soap fans? Will you, like Franco, be uttering the words “I like it here in Port Charles…folks are so friendly” beginning Nov. 20?
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Comments (1-30) of 65 Add your comment
OMG!
I just came in my pants
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That was absolutely hilarious! I was laughing the whole time, James Franco is the man.
ME TOO! this is camp-perfection. he looks like he is having a blast too.
oh please bryden13. get off your prejudicaial high horse. I admire Franco for tackling a soap opera. There’s nothing hilarious about this at all. it looks great and i’ll certainly tune in too see him. daytime actors are the hardest working actors in daytime. and please, i’ve seen stuff just as cheesy on primetime and film.
i applaud james franco.
I’m not making fun of Franco, I think it’s great what he’s doing. But if you can’t see the hilarity in this then you’ve been taking soaps way too seriously for the past 25 years.
i dont think they were laughing in a bad way – at least i wasnt. more of a giddy way. but way to go on being too serious.
“daytime actors are the hardest working actors in daytime.” HAHA! Great observation, ILOVEIT.
GH makes me laugh all the time and I’m a huge fan (since Luke and Laura). Love the campiness.
Why is he doing this? I love James Franco. He is super. So why … ? Is he desperate for cash? I have a had time imagining he is lacking for work. Is it for laughs? I would buy that … hmmm.
Not everything is about money. Perhaps he’s doing it for the challenge. That’s what it seams like to me from the interviews i’ve read.
The challenge?! What a joke! It’s a midday soap! Every time he says a line he makes the other actors and actresses look as pathetic as their acting really is. It’s comedy gold.
He’s doing research for an upcoming movie role.
bryden – STFU about something you obviously know nothing about. Learning several one hour scripts at a time EACH DAY is not a challenge??? It’s easy to mock from your mothers basement. Go troll somewhere else please.
shut up bryden. working on a soap isn’t easy. I admire a ot of soap actors for their dedication and james franco rocks for not having an ego and wanting a new challenge.
some of the best actors have come from soaps and some are still on them.
Bryden13… you don’t know what you’re talking about; in films you’re doing a page or two of dialogue a day. In Soaps; you’re doing about 65 pages a day of dialogue at a minimum. And for someone who’s never done a soap; it’s quite a challenge to memorize all that. These actors can do at least a couple of episodes a day.
I have all the respect in the world for Franco wanting to take on the challenge and explore all sides of the acting world.
Kudos for him wanting to come on a soap and this is huge for daytime.
bryden13 doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Soap actors have to memorize a ton of dialogue. They don’t get the credit they deserve.
Anyone tuning into GH for James Franco should watch OLTL, which airs the hour before GH. It’s the best soap on right now. Roscoe Born is back as the evil Mitch Laurence.
Really, do you people watch these shows? The acting is atrocious. Who cares if they memorize a lot of lines? Why do you think most of these actors and actresses never go anywhere? I applaud Franco for doing it, his performance looks great. Campy and funny, just like all the soaps on television.
this show rockS!!!!!
you have low standards
I don’t know why people are so “shocked” by this. Well other than those that are cannot get off their snobby high horse about what is quality entertainment and what isn’t because it’s all relative. The last time I checked real actors like to try out different outlets regardless of what they pay or what people who have no idea what the acting business entails (eyeballing a majority of commenters here) think about it. It’s about knowing your craft, not about how much esteem or money you get.
it feels like he is actually so good an actor, that the cheesiness gets lost
I have chills!! gonna be awesome!!
OH MY GOD THIS IS GONNA BE AWESOME
I don’t watch daytime soaps – though, you know, I used to watch AMC for the hotness that was Mark Consuelos – but I may just have to tune in for this.
Have no fear… your hottie (and mine for that matter) will be back on AMC; at least for a little while.
lmao he is too good for this show. Gh is so cheesy
Could it be General Hospital will be my newest favourite soap…..am droolin here!
It is things like this that could actually save soap operas. GH is the least cheesy of all daytime soaps, it actually tries to be better than most daytime soaps.
how long have you been watching? They recycle storylines like crazy. they expect their viewers to have bad memories. The show is horrible.
I agree with lmao — GH has been TERRIBLE for the last 5 or 6 years. I quit watching when misogyny and the mob started dominating the show. Prior to that, I watched for two decades. I agree with another fan that OLTL is the best soap by FAR!
Why are people so serious on this posts. I love soaps, but I think the actors on them little to no range. Your playing the same character everyday and the scripts aren’t that hard to memorize when your character is doing the same thing day in and day out. Range is when you can portray other characters rather it is in daytime, primetime, or movies. Victor Newman and Erica Kane for example they are the most hyped characters on their soaps yet they have the worst acting skills.
Alex — ITA that Susan Lucci is a dreadful actress. Nice lady but no range at all. However, there are many extremely gifted actors on daytime – Tony Geary or Erika Slezak could hold their own with anyone in any venue.
I agree with ya, but soap actors have range but it is very limited. They get tied into these soaps and then get hooked on playing the same role. There is nothing wrong with playing the same role but don’t make your career out of it. I say 5-10 years and then go do something else. For the young soap actors don’t make a career out of it bc soaps want be around for much longer because people can watch cable during the day now and networks are getting rid of them too.
I take back some stuff I said. I was just bitter and venting because General Hospital use to be so good. Then Sonny kept doing the same damn thing, and Carly has babies by everybody, and Jason and Sam can’t get a real break. I hope James Franco makes it better than what it is now.
There have been lots of great actors who have gotten their career started on soaps or have guest-starred on them, Elizabeth Taylor, Demi Moore, Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Pitt, Alec Baldwin, the list goes on and on. So why are people so surprised that James Franco would guest star on a soap?
I personally am excited to see him on there. Is it November 20th yet?
a couple of them (demi moore and Brad Pitt) should have stayed on Daytime. Their acting sucks
I think they have a couple of award nominations that would disagree with you.
I was already excited to see him, this just excites me more
I am aleady a huge GH fan, have been for over 35 years, and to have James on this (along with the long awaited return of Jonathan Jackson), well I’ve been making sure to tape GH every day and watching it as soon as I get home from work. I applaud James for taking on this challange.
I don’t know about y’all, but my DVR is set to RECORD.
Now if only Y&R could score an A List actor.
Side Note: Is that Adam Lambert’s version of “Mad World” in the promo?
I think it is.
Then we would’ve had A Martinez as Benjamin Button, douche.
I heard he is getting his MFA from NYU and wanted the challenge of doing a soap. Apparently they do extraordinary amounts of dialog in short periods and mostly all in one take. That is an actor really stretching (as opposed to the ones that think gaining 30 lb is stretching). He is a doll so I will try to watch.
MFA in writing at Columbia, Studying Film at NYU/Tisch… seriously impressive guy!
I like James Franco ever since he did The James Dean story for TNT. I think he did it for the challenge as an actor. Soaps are so extreme almost like theater.
Poor James Franco getting stuck with the jazz hands acting of Kelly Monaco. Hopefully he doesn’t have many scenes with her loser character.
I think it would be great if he turned out to be Sonny’s lover and then Sonny decided to run for Mayor and James Franco got tired of being second to politics and broke up with him. But he would always be the love of Sonny’s life.
I love that James Franco seems to do what he wants to do!
This storyline looks like The Sopranos meets Dexter. But, at least it’s not a switched baby or long lost evil twin plot.
I definitely think soap acting is challenging. But they are not learning 65 pages of dialogue a day. At most the show is 39 minutes a day that has three different stories going on. So at most they are learning 13 minutes of dialogue a day. They do about four minute takes so they have to remember four minute scenes. And they have teleprompters if they get lost.
Thank you for making that point Jason S. For all the people saying soaps are really hard work because of the amount of dialogue. I can see if soaps episodes were formatted like prime time episodes; there are different story lines running and the actors stay on their scene for most of the episode, not that hard. Plus soaps aren’t build on the foundation of good acting but pretty people. If you have a six pack than you can be in soap regardless if you can actually act. Where as in prime time and movies actors that aren’t considered that attractive get a shot if they have good acting skills.
They shoot multiple episodes per day. Also James Franco just did an interview with New York Magazine where he said the dialogue he shot in one day was equal of that to a movie script.
It looks so campy. I bet he had a blast.
…. which is how it should be.