The atrium of Syracuse University’s Schine Student Center filled with a buzz normally reserved only for peak hours, even though it was 7:15 p.m. on a Saturday. People sat in a line that weaved from the entrance of Goldstein Auditorium into the depths of Schine’s office space. Most of them had been there for at least an hour, just because a mustached man named James Franco was in town.

Franco, arguably one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, was the guest of University Union and the Traditions Commission Saturday night. The actor, director, producer, screenwriter and teacher took part in a mediated question and answer session for an hour and half. On SU’s homecoming weekend, a sold-out room soaked in every word that came from his mouth.

Saturday’s festivities took a different course compared to similar UU events of years past. Last fall, Kenan Thompson of “Saturday Night Live” had the floor for the early portion of the show, detailing his career according to his own narrative. Only towards the tail end did Thompson field questions. But with Franco, UU kept the entire event in a Q&A format. For about the first hour, UU president Lexi Kroll led the discussion. Questions submitted via Twitter followed, with audience members asking the final batch.

Much like Franco’s career, the event got its true start with “Freaks and Geeks.” Right off the bat Kroll inquired about the now-beloved TV show that aired for just one season in 1999, and how Franco found himself in Judd Apatow’s cast that included Seth Rogen and Jason Segel.

Franco, now 38, said the nature of the show was an awesome introduction the business, especially because the casting of “Freaks and Geeks” was somewhat unconventional. Actors were chosen mainly by how much the production team liked them, and then the show was rewritten to better fit the actors. For example, Franco’s character, Daniel Desario, was originally intended to be Latino.

“It worked particularly well for young people because they didn’t have to put on characters,” he said. “Basically, everybody was playing a version of him or herself.”

Franco’s experience in “127 Hours,” however, was a different kind of challenge. In the 2010 drama, he portrayed Aron Ralston, a climber whose arm gets trapped under a boulder and has to cut it off to survive.

This, Franco said, was a challenge because he was cast to tell the true story of a person who is still alive. He met with Ralston often in an effort to understand how he felt, but ultimately director Danny Boyle didn’t want Ralston heavily involved in the production of the movie. Franco said that could have made the film lose its life.

“You want to then just leap into the imaginary circumstances,” he said “You don’t want it to be this sort of slavish recreation of what Aron thinks it is.”

While “127 Hours” saw great success — a best picture nomination at the Oscars — it is not the kind of film Franco has typically thrived in. Rather, comedies like “Spring Breakers” and “The Interview” have left their biggest mark on his reputation.

Franco said during the early part of his career, after “Freaks and Geeks” was cancelled, he tried his hand at a lot of dramas. It was the kind of acting he always thought he would do, but it left him unsatisfied. And after Apatow suggested he give comedy another try, Franco reunited with Rogen for “Pineapple Express.”

Over the years, Franco has seen himself mature. He said he struggled with collaboration in the early stages in his career. He was hard to work with. But now, he teaches film at three different universities. He said he puts an emphasis on production and feedback in his teaching, making graduate students produce their own feature-length film.

It’s that kind of maturity that was evident in some of the lessons Franco’s answers provided. When asked about dealing with rejection, he told a story of when he was bitter about being passed over for a role in a film called “Deuces Wild.” But because that movie ended up taking so long to make, it was released on the same day as “Spiderman,” in which Franco plays Harry Osborn. While “Deuces Wild” tanked without him, “Spiderman” killed it at the box office.

“It was sort of like, ‘Oh, I thought I knew what was good for me,’” Franco said. “But I wasn’t supposed to go on that boat, I was supposed to go on this boat.”

Kroll’s last question — part of what was considered a lightning round, even though Franco still tended to provide some lengthy responses — followed a similar theme. She asked what was the best advice he’s ever been given, and he replied with a continuation of his suggestions on how to deal with rejection.

“There’s really only two things you have control over as far as how you live your life,” he said. “How you spend your time — what you work on, whether that is your professional life or your personal life — and how hard you work at it.”

Franco is a living example of what following such advice can do for a person. For validation, just look to those who stood in line to listen to him; to those who rushed the stage after the show when he offered to take a selfie with the crowd, and then proceeded to swarm in search of autographs. Franco worked from the “Freak” created in 1999 to become the man demanding that type of crowd Saturday, and they seemed to love him for it.

Published on September 18, 2016 at 11:05 am

Contact: jtbloss@syr.edu | @jtbloss