James Franco, Hardest Working Actor

James Franco took Hollywood by storm after his iconic starring role as Harry Osborn in the original Sam Raimi Spider-Man in 2002. He was also a major asset in TV series Freaks and Geeks with Seth Rogen before. We now know James Franco as the multi hyphenate actor-director-producer-art performer-author-poet. Just a couple days ago I stumbled upon Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and I started wondering how many movies has he made since. I know he has Palo Alto with Emma Roberts coming out soon. I know he's in that play with Chris O'Dowd. I know he drew that weird nude paintings of Seth Rogen. Basically, I have seen too many James Franco's Instagram feed. But what's more surprising than his Instagram feed is the fact that James Franco might be Hollywood's hardest working actor. Let's take a look at his filmography since the year he nabbed an Oscar nom, which is 2010 to the uninitiated.

2010 (Six movies)
Movies: Howl, Date Night, Shadows and Lies, Eat Pray Love, Love & Distrust, 127 Hours
Average IMDb score: 5.7
In Howl he played Allen Ginsberg, in a biopic that co-stars Jon Hamm and Mary Louise-Parker. And had a kick-ass cameo combo with Mila Kunis in the highly hilarious Date Night. A bad film rated 4.2 on IMDb Shadows and Lies, a small role in the lovely but critically panned Eat Pray Love, a part in the omnibus Love & Distrust that also features RDJ and RPatz. And of course his best work to date as Aron Ralston in Danny Boyle's 127 Hours.

2011 (Five movies)
Movies: The Green Hornet, Your Highness, The Broken Tower, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Sal
Average IMDb score: 5.8
He did an uncredited yet memorable cameo as Crystal Clear in The Green Hornet. Followed his Oscar nom with the terrible Your Highness that features a Natalie Portman butt-double. Directed and starred in  The Broken Tower, starred in his biggest movie since Spider-Man 3--Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and written, directed and co-starred in Sal, currently 4.6 at IMDb.


2012 (Six movies)
Movies: About Cherry, The Iceman, Spring Breakers, The Letter, Tar, Maladies
Average IMDb score: 5.3
I was actually intrigued by the look of About Cherry but eventually I completely ignored it. The Iceman was decent but Franco could easily be replaced by anyone else. Spring Breakers is the shit. He's in most critics' choice for best supporting actor nom. And who could actually blamed a film with two pre-KFed Britney Spears songs? Tar looked promising with Jessica Chastain and Mila Kunis in the mix too.

2013 (Seven movies)
Movies: Interior.Leather.Bar, Lovelace, Oz the Great and Powerful, As I Lay Dying, This is the End, Child of God, Homefront
Average IMDb score: 6.1
By the year 2013, we figured that James Franco loves directing. Interior. Leather. Bar was an experimental film directed by him. And so are As I Lay Dying and Child of God. To be honest, they were not that good. But at least James Franco knows how to make fun films like Sam Raimi's The Wizard of Oz prequel and the meta comedy This is the End. But his presence could make you cringe as well, like when he suddenly turned out to be Jason Statham's baddie in Homefront.

2014 (Thirteen movies)
Movies: Palo Alto, Third Person, Veronica Mars, Good People, Yosemite, True Story, The Sound and the Fury, Queen of the Desert, Memoria, Everything Will Be Fine, The Labyrinth, The Interview, Black Dog Red Dog
Average IMDb score: (released films only) 6.7
He cameoed as himself in Veronica Mars, he shared screen time with Liam Neeson and Olivia Wilde, he saw himself in the adaptation of his own book. I don't know what to say with all these thirteen movies in one year. Only Eric Roberts has the time and energy to do this many films. FYI, Eric Roberts has 58 films dated for 2014. FIFTY FUCKING EIGHT. And that's not counting the shorts, TV series appearances, or documentaries.

Back to James Franco, I think he thinks that his job and his life is an experiment so he did all those. Don't forget, he's also in Comedy Central's Roast last year. And he co-hosted the Oscars in 2011. And he keeps on painting Seth Rogen nudes. And guest starring on General Hospital and The Mindy Project. And posting bed selfies on Instagram. And picking up girls via Internet. And did that hilarious PSA for Alamo. And giving acting classes with Jonah Hill too! God I'd kill to be in that class. Anyhooo, thank God he's not weird like Shia LaBeouf.

Your argument is invalid, he has a Walk of Fame star

Anyway, see you. I'm queueing Homefront now. This is like the filler episodes in a series, y'know the monster-of-the-week type episode until I get to review X-Men: Days of Future Past later this month/early next month.