New James Franco Trailer Released as His Broadway Show Opens [Video]

As James Franco prepares to take the stage in the opening night of Broadway’s Of Mice and Men, a trailer for his new film Third Person hits the Internet, and it’s as vague and puzzling as, well…as most of the things Franco does.

In the new film from Crash director Paul Haggis, James plays a divorced dad who fights with his son’s mother (Mila Kunis) over the custody rights of their child. Franco’s only one of many familiar faces in this Crash-style film, which intermingles three different story lines in three different cities: Paris, Rome, and New York. Other famous faces include Liam Neeson, Adrien Brody, and Olivia Wilde, whose stories will all intersect to tell one complete relationship cycle. Explains director Haggis, “The three stories look at the beginning, middle and end of a relationship. The couple in Italy represents the beginning, Paris the middle and New York the end.” The trailer finishes with the line, “You love love. It’s people you don’t have time for.” Third Person premieres at the Tribeca Film Fest on April 24th and is expected to be in theaters later in 2014. Check out the trailer below!

Admist all the new trailer buzz, Franco is preparing to perform again in a new medium – the stage. Wednesday night is the Broadway debut of the much-anticipated Of Mice and Men, an Anna Shapiro directed play that hasn’t seen the stage in forty years. It’s a young Hollywood cast, led by Franco and supported by Gossip Girl‘s Leighton Meester and Bridesmaids‘ Chris O’Dowd. The biggest fans of this Broadway revival have seemed to be the actors themselves, as they use the powers of social media to promote, respond, and discuss the show with fans.

Opening Night @JamesFrancoTV @BigBoyler @itsmeleighton congrats to all pic.twitter.com/G1cMxTnIPz

— Of Mice and Men (@miceandmenbway) April 16, 2014

The star power of the cast is a plus from the marketing point of view, but complicates things a bit for director Shapiro. She admits to having to cut a shirtless James scene in fear of “making the Internet explode.” The stage entrance of each actor has been quickened, too, to lessen the amount of girlish screams from the audience and to minimize distraction. When asked about it in the preview performances, Franco mentions that the star recognition only happens briefly: “It’s really only the initial moment. We give [the audience] a few seconds, and then it’s, ‘Now we’re going to play the parts and get on with the show.'”

Are you excited to see Franco in Third Person and on stage in Of Mice and Men? Or are you over Franco? Let us know!

Image via Wikipedia