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Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV
Gabriella Ferlita
James Franco is set to star in his first film for four years, after he faced sexual misconduct allegations.
The 44-year-old stepped away from the silver screen in 2018 after multiple women, including four of his former pupils, accused the actor of sexually inappropriate behaviour.
Now, the actor is preparing to star in a coming-of-age period drama Me, You, as a fisherman.
Directed by Bille August, the post-World War II movie is adapted from Erri De Luca’s novel Tu, Mio, and follows 16-year-old Marco from London who goes on a summer holiday in Italy with his father, played by Tom Hollander.
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Marco then meets the fisherman, played by Franco, who tells Marco his post-war stories ‘following his military service as a U.S. GI’, according to the film’s synopsis.
The teenage boy then meets and falls for the ‘enigmatic’ 20-year-old Caia, played by Daisy Jacob, who soon reveals the traumatic past of her childhood being taken by the SS, prompting ‘a ferocious resentment for the SS in Marco’, which leads him to take revenge on German tourists in the area.
Franco said in a statement he is 'excited to board this phenomenal project and to be working with the legendary Bille August'.
However, some do not seem to be looking forward to the film due to the previous accusations against Franco. “Don’t think this project or any project he [does] will do well. He’s pretty much cancelled,” wrote one Twitter user, while another added: “I will not be watching it.”
In January 2018, the 127 Hours actor was accused of sexually inappropriate behaviour by five women, including four former pupils of the star.
After which, two of his accusers and former students went on to launch legal action against him.
The lawsuit accused Franco and his business partners at the Studio 4 school of engaging ‘in widespread inappropriate and sexually charged behaviour towards female students by sexualising their power as a teacher and an employer by dangling the opportunity for roles in their projects’.
Franco denied the allegations, saying the initial claims made against him in 2018 were ‘not accurate’. In 2021 it was reported that he had agreed to pay $2.23m (£1.67m) to settle the lawsuit.
Furthermore, in December 2021, Franco admitted on SiriusXM’s Jess Cagle Show that he ‘did sleep with students’ at the school, which he co-founded in 2014 and closed in 2017.
He said at the time: “Over the course of my teaching, I did sleep with students, and that was wrong. But like I said, it's not why I started the school and I wasn't the person that selected the people to be in the class. So it wasn't a 'master plan' on my part. But yes, there were certain instances where, you know what, I was in a consensual thing with a student and I shouldn't have been.”
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact The Survivor’s Trust for free on 08088 010 818, or through their website thesurvivorstrust.org