How often does your professor interview James Franco?
The answer is not very
A few weeks ago I saw on Facebook my favorite professor at Florida State, Mark Zeigler, would be interviewing James Franco. I didn’t believe it, but upon asking him, I found out the news was true.
Last summer I had the amazing opportunity to participate in the Communications in London study abroad program. Mark was my teacher for both of my classes. They were two of my favorite courses I have taken in college, as most of his former students will say. The whole study abroad experience, including his classes, really changed my life forever.
Enough with the sappy stuff, let’s talk about the interview with Franco.
The interview began with JF talking about his early adult years, after dropping out of college against his parents wishes. There was a time where Franco even worked at a McDonalds drive thru, where he practiced his accents on the customers, while picking up small acting jobs on the side.
Franco talked about working on 127 Hours, Milk, 11.22.63 and hosting the Oscars. In the beginning, he was always in front of the camera and he said he had a hard time trusting those he worked with. After deciding he wanted more control, he started to work behind the camera as well. He has a whole slew of producing and directing credits to his name.
Not only does Franco have a ridiculous number of accolades in the entertainment industry, but he now also has degrees from UCLA, Columbia and Yale. He spoke about his love for school and the fact that he enjoys it now because he attends school by choice, and not by force.
Some of the more relatable moments were when Franco discussed what he would say to his college self today, “Dude, be sure that you at least give a little space to do what you love.
“Sometimes we have big dreams and we don’t have control over whether they’re going to happen or not, but you do have control over how hard you work on them.”
Upon being asked by Mark how he was time for it all — acting, reading, producing, directing and more — he simply replied, “If you want to do something, you’ll make the time to do it.” He did admit he doesn’t sleep very much though.
The night ended with Franco taking selfies with the crowd, and he even attempted doing the chop post-interview.