Is James Franco the Coolest Straight Actor Ever?

 
James Franco in Milk

James Franco is one of the coolest straight actors ever, and may be, in the entire history of film, the male leading movie actor who is also the most comfortable with gay movie roles.

If there was ever any doubt of that before, he put it to rest this last week with the news that he's optioned a biography of Sal Mineo with an eye on playing the gay actor and wrapped the film The Broken Tower in which he plays real-life gay poet Hart Crane (Franco also wrote, produced, and directed the movie, which includes a gay male sex scene).

Then there's Franco's recent confession on Inside the Actor's Studio that, while researching his role in the 2002 film Sonny (another gay-ish role), he accompanied a male prostitute to watch him perform him a client (see clip below).

This is all on the tail of Franco's performance as Harvey Milk's partner in the 2009 film Milk, and his role as another gay poet Allen Ginsberg in this year's Howl.

Many straight leading actors have played prominent gay roles before (and some, like Tom Hanks and William Hurt, have been wildly praised for their "courage" and rewarded with major acting awards).

But how many of these actors then go on to take on a second prominent gay role? Or a third? Or a fourth? And in the span of just a couple of years?

It's made even more impressive by the fact that Franco's career is hotter than ever, with a hosting gig for this year's Academy Awards and a likely Best Actor nomination for 127 Hours. Then there's the fact that Franco hasn't yet been pigeon-holed in "gay" roles. He's clearly seeking these parts out — it's not the case that he's simply taking the only roles that are being offered to him.

And why wouldn't he seek them out? After decades of Hollywood's cinematic silence (or outright libel) on the subject of GLBT lives, this is fertile artistic ground — made all the more interesting by the fact that GLBT rights are clearly becoming one of the major social issues of the 21st century. This is our moment in time, and these kinds of roles are exactly the ones that are contributing to the national conversation that's taking place. These are also the roles that will be remembered fifty years from now, much the way Sidney Poitier's roles helped define film in the 1960s.

A genuine actor would be insane not to take roles such as these. And as Franco has stated on several occasions, he was frustrated in the wake of his early break-out success in the Spider-Man movies, and the limitations that conventional Hollywood stardom places on actors. Lots of actors say they've made a conscious decision to seek out challenging roles — but that "decision" usually only comes in the wake of the collapse of some brain-dead Hollywood franchise, when the actor has no choice but to take risks because playing it safe has basically failed.

When Franco says he willingly gave up on traditional stardom, he really, really means it!

But I confess I'm a little apprehensive about putting all this in this article. Hollywood hasn't been pigeon-holed Franco yet, but the town loves to do just that. Meanwhile, the cultural nay-sayers (including, ironically, many gay folks) love nothing more than to stereotype and emasculate anyone that has anything to do with anything "gay."

Basically, can Franco's coolness survive the "meme" that James Franco is incredibly pro-gay?

Aaron Tveit and Franco in Howl

Nonetheless, Franco's pro-gay attitude matters precisely because the actor is perceived as being so cool: the two things work together. He's an emissary to the world of straight men and straight culture in a way that gay celebrities like Nathan Lane or even Neil Patrick Harris probably never could be.

In short, in addition to being a bold artist and an incredibly cool person, Franco is something of a bellwether. He's absolutely right where the culture is heading, but he's also deliberately choosing to be way out in front. It's a noble position to be in, but it's also a risky one: Ellen DeGeneres did the same thing and got screwed in the face of a major backlash. Fortunately, proving there's something to the idea of "karma," society eventually caught up to her, and she worked her way back into superstar-dom. But plenty of other early out actors have proved that's not always the case.

James Franco is the most pro-gay leading actor of all time. But don't pass it on, okay?

James Franco talks gay gigolos on Inside the Actors Studio