A few weeks ago, James Franco seemingly had it all -- a critically adored performance in “127 Hours,” a reputation as a bookworm devoted to his post-graduate work at Yale and a slew of tentpole pictures waiting in the wings.
But then he had to go and host the Academy Awards.
Did “Your Highness” suffer because of it?
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In the wake of the raunchy stoner comedy’s tepid $9.4 million opening last weekend, it wasn’t clear if withering reviews or James Franco’s Hindenburg of a hosting performance were to blame.
“I think we’d be looking at ‘Your Highness’ totally differently if he didn’t do the Oscars,” Phil Contrino, editor of BoxOffice.com, told TheWrap. “Usually there’s no such thing as bad publicity, but this is the rare case where there is.”
The backlash to his lethargic Oscar performance was scathing and it arrived at a critical juncture in the actor’s career.
“Dull, slow, witless,” wrote Roger Ebert.
“Spectacularly bad,” railed the Hollywood Reporter.
“Disaster,” declared the Orlando Sentinel.
The bad notices hit at a moment when, armed with a Best Actor nomination for “127 Hours,” Franco seemed uniquely positioned to break into the big-time.
His performances in a series of highly regarded independent films including “Milk” and “Howl,” and clever turns in “Pineapple Express” and “Date Night” had marked him as a star on the rise -- a position that, by his own admission, was difficult to achieve following a series of early career disappointments such as “Annapolis” and “Flyboys.”
The only thing missing in Franco’s career resurgence was a hit that he could truly call his own. Franco’s films have grossed more than $1.5 billion domestically, but that number is skewed by his supporting role in the “Spider-Man” films.
“James Franco has never really opened a movie," Vincent Bruzzese, president of The Worldwide Motion Picture Group at Ipsos OTX, told TheWrap. “Whether the Oscar hosting gig has permanently slowed or muted what was clearly a man on a meteoric rise remains to be seen.”
“The question is why do you have him hosting the Oscars to begin with? It’s one of the toughest gigs in Hollywood, and it’s a no-win even if he did do a good job,” he added.
Franco’s team insists that Hollywood’s attraction for the young actor is still going strong, pointing to his upcoming starring role in Sam Raimi’s big-budget film “Oz: The Great and Powerful.”
“There has been no fall out,” publicist Robin Baum said in an email to TheWrap. “He continues to get studio movie offers.”
Still, Franco’s hosting whiff certainly didn’t help drum up enthusiasm for “Your Highness.” A bizarre Twitter feud with Oscar writer Bruce Vilanch and a strained explanation to David Letterman about why his performance was so lackadaisical proved distracting; instead of hawking his comedy, Franco spent the bulk of the time offering up mea culpas.
