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139-575: Their musical viral video the "Winning" song, part of their Songify the News series (formerly known as Auto-Tune the News ), won a 2012 Comedy Award , and their " Bed Intruder Song " received over 141 million YouTube views and entered the Billboard Hot 100 . Their releases, "Who's It Gonna Be?" with Weird Al Yankovic and "The Last Fight" with Joseph Gordon-Levitt , parodied the two US presidential debates of 2020 . Additionally, they released

278-416: A Golden Globe Award and nominations for an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award (SAG). Franco achieved worldwide fame and attention in the 2002 superhero film Spider-Man , when he played Harry Osborn , the son of the villainous Green Goblin ( Willem Dafoe ) and best friend of Spider-Man ( Tobey Maguire ). Originally, Franco was considered for the lead role of Spider-Man/Peter Parker in

417-638: A Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy . At the end of 2017, Franco, almost 40, said he was slowing down to focus on himself. On December 23, 2021, Franco gave his first interview in nearly four years when he appeared on an episode of the Jess Cagle Podcast . In August 2022, Franco was cast as Fidel Castro in Alina in Cuba , a casting decision that was supported by Fidel Castro's daughter. Franco produced and directed

556-410: A Silicon Valley business. His father was of Portuguese and Swedish ancestry, while his mother was from a family of Russian Jews . His paternal grandmother, Marjorie ( née Peterson), is a published author of young adult books. His maternal grandfather, Daniel, changed his surname from "Verovitz" to "Verne" some time after 1940, and his maternal grandmother, Mitzie ( née Levine), owned

695-667: A period piece dramatization of the Tristan and Iseult story also starring British actress Sophia Myles . For the former, he did eight months of boxing training and for the latter, he practiced horseback riding and sword fighting. He then completed training for his Private Pilot Licence in preparation for his role in Flyboys , which was released in September 2006; the same month, Franco appeared briefly in The Wicker Man ,

834-623: A "D" grade in "Acting" class at the NYU Graduate Film School. He had, in fact, received that grade in a "Directing the Actor" class. Franco's professor, José Angel Santana, alleged that Franco did not earn his grades while attending that school and stated that Franco only received high marks and a degree because of his celebrity status as an actor. Franco made unfavorable comments about Santana's teaching. In September 2012, after having been terminated from his position Santana filed

973-474: A "mixed-media piece", the show featured live dance, theater, music, and poetry. Tickets were free, distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. The actor also directed two short films for songs ("Blue" and "That Someone Is You") by R.E.M. from their album Collapse into Now (2011). Franco continued his career as a filmmaker with The Broken Tower , a 90-minute docudrama shot in black and white about poet Hart Crane , who committed suicide by jumping off

1112-406: A 3–7-day period" can it be considered "viral". To compare, 2004's Numa Numa received two million hits on Newgrounds in its first three months (a figure explained in a 2015 article as "a staggering number for the time"). Nalts also posits three other considerations: buzz, parody, and longevity, which are more complex ways of judging a viral video's views. Buzz addresses the heart of the issue;

1251-532: A Crush... on Obama . and some events that have been captured by eyewitnesses can get viral such as Battle at Kruger . One commentator called the Kony 2012 video the most viral video in history (about 34 million views in three days and 100 million views in six days ), but " Gangnam Style " (2012) received one billion views in five months and was the most viewed video on YouTube from 2012 until " Despacito " (2017). Videos were shared long before YouTube or even

1390-564: A banana" and "My spoon is too big!" Another early video was the Flash animation "The End of the World", created by Jason Windsor and uploaded to Albino Blacksheep in 2003, with quotable hooks such as "but I'm le tired" and "WTF, mates?" Rosanna Guadagno, a social psychologist at the University of Texas at Dallas, found in a study that people preferred to share a funny video rather than one of

1529-726: A big financial success, setting a new opening weekend box office record for North America. With a revenue of $ 783 million worldwide, it became the second highest-grossing film in 2004. The following year he made and starred in the black comedy The Ape and the 2005 war film The Great Raid , in which he portrayed Robert Prince , a captain in the United States Army's elite Sixth Ranger Battalion . In 2006, Franco co-starred with Tyrese Gibson in Annapolis and played legendary hero Tristan in Tristan & Isolde ,

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1668-525: A cameo appearance on NBC 's Minute to Win It where the real-life Ralston was participating as a contestant playing for charity. After having an uncredited cameo in the opening scene of The Green Hornet (2011), he starred opposite Natalie Portman and Danny McBride in the Medieval fantasy comedy Your Highness . In the film, he plays Fabious, a prince who teams up with his brother (McBride) to rescue

1807-420: A campaign in September 2013 in support of a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for Franco's performance. In March 2013, it was announced that Franco was set to make his 2014 Broadway stage debut in the role of George in a revival of John Steinbeck 's Of Mice and Men . In October 2013, Franco appeared in the music video for " City of Angels " by Thirty Seconds to Mars . On March 8, 2013, Franco received

1946-497: A comedy album entitled Love Is Like Drugs . The album managed to reach number two on the Billboard chart of comedy albums of the week of November 26. A Christmas album, featuring original music and upbeat covers of popular Christmas and winter songs performed by The Gregory Brothers, debuted on November 15, 2018. The album was released in both standard and deluxe editions. A public livestream of The Gregory Brothers performing

2085-433: A company that measures online traffic, compiled data comparing the amount of time spent reading an article and the number of times it was shared and found that people often post articles on Twitter they haven't even read. Many independent musicians, as well as large companies such as Universal Music Group , use YouTube to promote videos. Six of the 10 most viral YouTube videos of 2015 were rooted in music. One such video,

2224-528: A crash pad with a zero WAF (Woman Acceptance Factor). It's an unshowy, generous performance and it greatly humanizes a movie that, as it shifts genre gears and cranks up the noise, becomes disappointingly sober and self-serious". His performance earned him a second Golden Globe nomination, for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy . He has stated in some interviews that he no longer uses cannabis (although he has occasionally alluded to smoking it, most notably during an extended segment on The Colbert Report ). He

2363-475: A creative writing concentration. He received permission to take as many as 62 course credits per quarter compared to the normal limit of 19, while still continuing to act, receiving many of his credits from independent study for his involvement on the set of Spider-Man 3 . He received his undergraduate degree in June 2008 with a GPA of 3.5/4.0. For his degree, Franco prepared his departmental honors thesis as

2502-593: A dancing Elvis Presley . He found guest roles on television shows but his first break came in 1999, after he was cast in a leading role on the short-lived but well-reviewed NBC television series Freaks and Geeks , which ran for 18 episodes and was canceled due to low viewership. Later, the show became a cult hit among audiences. He has since described the series as "one of the most fun" work experiences that he has had. In another interview, Franco said: "When we were doing Freaks and Geeks , I didn't quite understand how movies and TV worked, and I would improvise even if

2641-571: A director and later watched three of his short films, one of which featured a serial killer, ultimately confirming to the writer that the actor had a darker side. Franco also directed a film version of William Faulkner 's novel As I Lay Dying ; the film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival . In late 2013, Franco starred in This Is the End as

2780-590: A documentary titled Saturday Night , which documented a week in the production of an episode of SNL . The film began as a short for an NYU class, but grew due to his two episodes as host, while short stories he wrote for other classes appeared in Esquire and McSweeney's . In summer 2010, the fictional Franco from General Hospital held an exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, while

2919-651: A fake romance with Jenna Maroney ( Jane Krakowski ) in a scheme concocted by their respective agents. After appearing in the commercial successes Date Night , an action comedy, and Eat Pray Love , an adaption of a novel, Franco played poet Allen Ginsberg in the drama Howl , released on September 24. The latter, about his most known poem and the trial about the work, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and earned modest reviews. In his next project, 127 Hours , directed by Danny Boyle , Franco portrayed real-life mountain climber Aron Ralston . It

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3058-510: A feature film. The film was to be written by Alec Berg and David Mandel. Pop stars such as Justin Bieber and Esmée Denters also started their careers via YouTube videos which ultimately went viral. By 2014, pop stars such as Miley Cyrus , Eminem , and Katy Perry were regularly obtaining web traffic in the order of 120 to 150 million hits a month, numbers far in excess of what many viral videos receive. Companies also use viral videos as

3197-410: A fictionalized version of himself stuck in a house during an apocalypse with Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill, and Danny McBride, also fictionalized versions of themselves. In February 2012, Franco began shooting a film version of Cormac McCarthy 's 1973 novella Child of God , which stars Scott Haze as Lester Ballard. The film chronicles the depraved and violent impulses of

3336-548: A film. On January 26, 2011, Franco and the Harvard Lampoon released a satirical video on prominent comedy website Funny or Die mocking his last-minute cancellation. Franco moved to New York to simultaneously attend graduate school at Columbia University School of the Arts for writing, New York University 's Tisch School of the Arts for filmmaking, and Brooklyn College for fiction writing, while also attending

3475-477: A lawsuit against Franco for defamation ; Santana claimed that Franco's comments were false and had led to his termination. In September 2013, Franco and Santana settled the defamation lawsuit. "The matter has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties," said Santana's attorney Matthew Blit . Franco defended himself on the Howard Stern Show , stating that he had told the professor before

3614-565: A man treating his own spider bite, and overall they were more likely to share any video that evoked an intense emotional response. Two professors at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania also found that uplifting stories were more likely to be shared on the New York Times' web site than disheartening ones. Others postulate that sharing is driven by ego in order to build up an online persona for oneself. Chartbeat,

3753-577: A most unlikely source". Writing in The New York Times , reviewer and fellow author Joshua Mohr praised Franco for how, in the story "American History", he juxtaposed historical parts with a present-day social commentary that "makes the we wonder how much we've actually evolved in post-bellum America". At least one editor of a literary journal testified he would not publish Franco's stories, claiming he has been published due to his star power, not literary talent. Publishers Weekly reviewed

3892-562: A musical segment for the 83rd Academy Awards where they auto-tuned bits of 4 major motion pictures from 2010: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 , Toy Story 3 , The Social Network , and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse . Host James Franco comically introduced the segment as a tribute to a "great year for the movie musical." Characters who were autotuned included Ron Weasley , Hermione Granger , Sheriff Woody , Sean Parker , and Edward Cullen . On July 14, 2011, it

4031-405: A novel under the supervision of Mona Simpson . Franco was selected as the commencement speaker at UCLA, and was to speak at the ceremony on June 12, 2009. Several months before commencement, an editorial in the student newspaper questioned his "caliber" and a student created a Facebook page protesting the choice. On June 3, Franco withdrew, citing a date conflict with location pre-production on

4170-417: A number of new videos under this branding as well. The table above reflects the new "Songify This" branding where applicable. In 2022, they attracted media attention when their Stranger Things parody "Chrissy Wake Up" and their remix of a Recess Therapy interview with a boy who described corn as "a big lump with knobs", called " It's Corn " both became major TikTok trends. The Gregory Brothers created

4309-420: A once-in-a-lifetime experience. To date, 127 Hours is one of his most well-reviewed movies and was also a commercial success, earning $ 60.7 million against an $ 18 million budget. His performance earned him universal acclaim from critics. Subsequently, he was nominated for an Academy Award , Golden Globe and SAG award, as well as winning an Independent Spirit Award. On February 23, 2011, Franco made

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4448-487: A project that features two movies: Endless Idaho and My Own Private River . Endless Idaho showcases edited outtakes, deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes footage from the 1991 movie My Own Private Idaho , while My Own Private River focuses on actor River Phoenix . The idea for the exhibition was conceived after Van Sant introduced unused footage from the 1991 film to Franco, inspiring him to turn it into something more. Unfinished opened from February 26 to April 9 at

4587-484: A screenwriting class on the online learning community Skillshare . For his students' film projects, Franco has helped to attract actors, including Seth MacFarlane , Kate Mara , Natalie Portman , Chloe Sevigny , Kristen Wiig and Olivia Wilde . Franco developed an aptitude for art—painting in particular—during his high school years while attending the California State Summer School for

4726-413: A series described by an ABC executive as a one-time "reality-based filler special" that was inspired by a segment of a Japanese variety show, Fun With Ken and Kaito Chan , borrowing clips from various Japanese home video shows as well. Now the longest-running primetime entertainment show in the history of ABC, the show's format includes showing clips of home videos sent in to the show's committee, and then

4865-485: A seventeen-year-old girl posted several screenshots of alleged messages between her and Franco on Instagram . The messages showed that Franco, then aged 35, tried to meet her in a hotel room even after she told him she was only seventeen. On January 11, 2018, the Los Angeles Times reported that five women had accussed Franco of inappropriate or sexually exploitative behavior during the period when Franco

5004-450: A speech at the University of Chicago Law School that the increased attention on police in light of recent viral videos showing police involved in fatal shootings has made officers less aggressive and emboldened criminals. Comey has acknowledged that there are no data to back up his assertion; according to him, viral videos are one of many possible factors such as cheaper drugs and more criminals being released from prison. Other top officials at

5143-548: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame , located at 6838 Hollywood Boulevard. In April 2014, Franco directed and appeared in "Techno Color Sunglasses", which promoted Gucci's eyewear collection. In December, Franco starred in the controversial Sony comedy thriller, The Interview , a film which played a central role in the real world diplomatic relations between the United States and North Korea as they related to

5282-456: A type of marketing strategy. The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is considered to have been one of the first viral marketing strategies to hit the world when Dove released their Evolution video in 2006. Their online campaign continued to generate viral videos when Real Beauty Sketches was released in 2013 and spread all throughout social media, especially Facebook and Twitter. James Franco James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978)

5421-455: A video has "gone viral". The statistic perhaps most mentioned is number of views, and as sharing has become easier, the threshold requirement of sheer number of views has increased. YouTube personality Kevin Nalty (known as Nalts) recalls on his blog: "A few years ago, a video could be considered 'viral' if it hit a million views", but says as of 2011, only "if it gets more than 5 million views in

5560-523: A video titled "They're Eating the Dogs," also featuring Gordon-Levitt, as a parody of the US presidential debate of 2024 . The three Gregory brothers – drummer/keyboardist Michael, guitarist/bassist Andrew Rose and keyboardist Evan – originally from Radford, Virginia , moved to Brooklyn, New York , in the mid-2000s and met guitarist/bassist Sarah Fullen (who married Evan in 2009) in the local music scene. The band

5699-423: A viral video can be used to forecast its peak day in future. Notable examples include " All your base are belong to us ", based on the poorly translated video game Zero Wing , which was first distributed in 2000 as a GIF animation and became popular for the grammatically incorrect hook of its title, and Don Hertzfeldt's 2000 Academy Awards Best Animated Short Film nomination "Rejected" with the quotable hooks "I am

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5838-487: A voice only role, both 2007 movies that were ignored by audiences and critics alike. Among his other 2007 projects were Good Time Max , which Franco wrote, directed and starred in. The movie premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival and tells the story of two talented brothers who take very diverse paths in life, one going on to become a doctor whilst the other sibling (Franco) experiences unemployment and uses drugs. The actor chose to cast himself in that role because, "It

5977-414: A website for sharing educational videos with other teachers. The site now features over 54,000 videos. Some college curricula are now using viral videos in the classroom as well. As of 2009, Northwestern University offers a course called "YouTubing 101". The course invites students to produce their own viral videos, focusing on marketing techniques and advertising strategies. " United Breaks Guitars ", by

6116-706: A young man in a very public profession tries to reclaim his public persona". In April 2014, the literary publisher Graywolf Press issued Franco's first collection of poetry, Directing Herbert White . The title alludes to a poem (made by Franco into a 2010 short film) by Frank Bidart , who has served as friend and mentor to Franco. Viewed as a sex symbol , Franco was named the Sexiest Man Living in 2009 by Salon . There has often been frequent media coverage of Franco, particularly regarding his interest in going to colleges. In addition to that, Franco has also claimed to have been strongly misquoted by reports in

6255-530: Is also part of the algorithm YouTube uses to predict popular videos. Parodies, spoofs and spin-offs often indicate a popular video, with long-popular video view counts given with original video view counts as well as additional view counts given for the parodies. Longevity indicates if a video has remained part of the Zeitgeist . Due to their societal impact and marketability, viral videos attract attention in both advertising and academia, which try to account for

6394-564: Is an American actor and filmmaker. He has starred in numerous films, including Sam Raimi 's Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007), Milk (2008), Eat Pray Love (2010), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Spring Breakers (2012), and Oz the Great and Powerful (2013). He has collaborated with fellow actor Seth Rogen on multiple projects, including Pineapple Express (2008), This Is

6533-482: Is best known for the Auto-Tune and Songify series, they have created several additional videos, independent of that series, which have received broad attention. The following videos are part of their first season of Auto-Tune the News for 16 episodes. The Gregory Brothers began to retroactively apply the series name "Songify This" to certain previously series-independent videos in late 2010, and they have released

6672-489: Is currently part of an ongoing federal lawsuit against the city. The 2008 United States presidential election showcased the impact of political viral videos. For the first time, YouTube hosted the CNN-YouTube presidential debates , calling on YouTube users to pose questions. In this debate, the opinions of viral video creators and users were taken seriously. There were several memorable viral videos that appeared during

6811-445: Is dedicated to many of the writers he worked with at Brooklyn College . Inspired by some of Franco's own teenage memories, as well as memories written and submitted by high school students at Palo Alto Senior High School, Palo Alto consists of life in that city as experienced by a series of teenagers who spend most of their time indulging in driving drunk, smoking marijuana , and taking part in unplanned acts of violence. Each passage

6950-489: Is monetized by selling and showing advertising. According to the New York Times , YouTube uses an algorithm called "reference rank" to evaluate the viral potential of videos posted to the site. Using evidence from as few as 10,000 views, it can assess the probability that the video will go viral. Before YouTube implemented wide-scale revenue sharing, if it deemed the video a viable candidate for advertising, it contacted

7089-421: Is told by a young narrator. The book has received mixed reviews; Los Angeles Times called it "the work of an ambitious young man who clearly loves to read, who has a good eye for detail, but who has spent way too much time on style and virtually none on substance". The Guardian reported that Franco's "foray into the literary world may be met with cynicism in some quarters, but this is a promising debut from

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7228-640: The Alien prequel, Alien: Covenant , alongside his longtime friend and frequent collaborator Danny McBride , as well as Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace . He played Branson, the captain of the Covenant ship and husband to Daniels, played by Katherine Waterston . The film was released on May 19, 2017. In 2016, Franco directed, co-produced, and starred in The Disaster Artist , the film adaptation of actor Greg Sestero 's non-fiction book of

7367-610: The 2014 Sony hacking incident . In April 2015, two of his projects, titled I Am Michael and True Story , were shown at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival . In I Am Michael , Franco plays a gay activist who rejects his homosexuality and becomes a conservative Christian pastor with a girlfriend. In True Story , based on a true story, Franco played Christian Longo , a man who was on the FBI's most wanted list for murdering his wife and three children in Oregon, and who had also been hiding under

7506-697: The Asia-Pacific region and collaborating with local musicians to create original novelty songs . It has been described as "a musical twist on an Anthony Bourdain show." The series premiered on Sling TV , after which episodes began being released on the Gregory Brothers' second YouTube channel in December 2016, while music videos from within each episode were also released on the main Schmoyoho channel. The group released their first EP , Meet

7645-566: The Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills. On February 27, 2011, he and Anne Hathaway hosted the 83rd Academy Awards . The two were selected to help the awards show achieve its goal of attracting a younger audience. Franco had previously said that he accepted the job for the experience and because it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Numerous media viewers criticized Franco for his discontent and lack of energy on stage and

7784-623: The LGBT community and his portrayal of gay characters in his projects, Franco's sexuality has been a subject of discussion in media sources. In a March 2015 interview with Four Two Nine magazine, Franco again opened up about his sexuality, stating, "In the twenties and thirties, they used to define homosexuality by how you acted and not by whom you slept with. Sailors would fuck guys all the time, but as long as they behaved in masculine ways, they weren't considered gay. Well, I like to think that I'm gay in my art and straight in my life." After meeting on

7923-447: The SAT . He graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1996, where he acted in plays. This led to him attending CSSSA in 1998 for theater studies. In his high school years, Franco was arrested for underage drinking, graffiti, and being a part of a group that stole designer fragrances from department stores and sold them to classmates. These arrests led to Franco briefly becoming a ward of

8062-582: The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as an English major, but dropped out after his first year (against his parents' wishes) to pursue a career as an actor, since he would have had to wait two years to audition for their acting program. He instead chose to take acting lessons with Robert Carnegie at the Playhouse West. Around this time, he took up a late-night job at McDonald's to support himself because his parents refused to do so. He

8201-592: The low-residency MFA Program for Writers at North Carolina 's Warren Wilson College for poetry. He received his M.F.A. from Columbia in 2010. As of 2010, Franco was studying in the Ph.D. program in English at Yale University . He has also attended the Rhode Island School of Design . In an interview with Showbiz411 , on September 23, 2010, Franco made the erroneous public announcement that he received

8340-499: The title character in the television biographical film James Dean (2001), for which he won a Golden Globe Award , and received nominations for Screen Actors Guild Award and Primetime Emmy Award . Franco had a recurring role on the daytime soap opera General Hospital (2009–2012) and starred in the limited series 11.22.63 (2016). He starred in the David Simon -created HBO drama The Deuce (2017–2019). In 2014,

8479-618: The " Free Hugs Campaign " with accompanying music by the Sick Puppies , was one of the winners of the 2006 YouTube Awards. However, the awards received criticism over the voting process and accused of bias. However, the main character of the video, Juan Mann , received positive recognition after being interviewed on Australian news programs and appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show . Viral videos continue to increase in popularity as teaching and instructive aids. In March 2007, an elementary school teacher, Jason Smith, created TeacherTube ,

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8618-636: The 2008 Presidential Election. Every major party candidate had their own YouTube channel in order to communicate with the voters, with John McCain posting over 300 videos and Barack Obama posting over 1,800 videos. The music video "Yes We Can" by will.i.am demonstrates user-generated publicity for the 2008 Presidential Campaign. The video depicts many celebrities as well as black and white clips of Barack Obama. This music video inspired many parodies and won an Emmy for Best New Approaches in Daytime Entertainment. The proliferation of viral videos in

8757-496: The 2008 campaign highlights the fact that people increasingly turn to the internet to receive their news. In a study for the Pew Research Center in 2008, approximately 2% of the participants said that they received their news from non-traditional sources such as MySpace or YouTube. The campaign was widely seen as an example of the growing influence of the internet on United States politics, a point further evidenced by

8896-519: The 2012 debate tracks as "surprisingly polished, if not as hilarious as their big hits." Noah Houghton of The Harvard Crimson applauded the quality and novelty of the 2016 album, adding that "the production on every song in the album is great without exception." On September 11, 2024, they released a debate recap from the September 10, 2024 Presidential election debate, through the New York Times, featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. A series of covers of popular songs were arranged, performed and shared by

9035-528: The Arts (CSSSA). Franco has said painting was the "outlet" he needed in high school, and he "has actually been painting longer than he has been acting". His paintings were displayed publicly for the first time at the Glü Gallery in Los Angeles, from January 7, through February 11, 2006. He launched his first European art exhibition in 2011 at Peres Projects in Berlin. In September 2012, Franco announced

9174-576: The Canadian folk rock music group Sons of Maxwell , is an example of how viral videos can be used by consumers to pressure companies to settle complaints. Another example is Brian Finkelstein's video complaint to Comcast, 2006. Finkelstein recorded a video of a Comcast technician sleeping on his couch. The technician had come to repair Brian's modem but had to call Comcast's central office and fell asleep after being placed on hold waiting for Comcast. The Canadian high school student known as Star Wars Kid

9313-485: The Chicago police murder of Laquan McDonald were released after 14 months of being kept sealed, which went viral and sparked further questions about police actions. Chicago's mayor, Rahm Emanuel , fired Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and there have also been demands for Emanuel to resign. A similar case, in which Chicago police attempted to suppress a dash cam video of the shooting of Ronald Johnson by an officer,

9452-422: The End (2013), Sausage Party (2016), and The Disaster Artist (2017), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor . Franco's performance in 127 Hours (2010) earned a Best Actor nomination at the 83rd Academy Awards . His first prominent television role was Daniel Desario on the short-lived ensemble comedy-drama Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000), which developed a cult following . He portrayed

9591-592: The Gregory Brothers released an auto-tuned version of the Double Rainbow viral video. The original video featured the overawed reaction of Paul "Hungry Bear" Vasquez to a double rainbow at Yosemite National Park . The Gregory Brothers turned Vasquez's astounded speech into a song and pledged all of the song's earnings to Vasquez and Yosemite. As of June 24, 2022, the Gregory Brothers' remix had received over 41 million views. In December 2021, Andrew Gregory announced that The Gregory Brothers would be taking over

9730-448: The Gregory Brothers through Vine , Facebook and YouTube. Somewhat uniquely, these covers switched the key of the song between major and minor , giving otherwise happy songs a melancholy tone while sad songs sounded more joyful. In March 2014, and again in September 2016, the Gregory Brothers released compilation albums of some such covers. In November 2016, the Gregory Brothers collaborated with Jon Jafari (aka JonTron) and created

9869-499: The Gregory Brothers! , on May 29, 2009. Village Voice music writer Ben Westhoff characterized the effort as "a lounge-y , refreshingly sincere slice of blue-eyed soul ", and Jake Frazier of PopSense praised the work, claiming that it "[brought] more to the table than the other 1000+ songs [in his music library]". Westhoff opined that "unfortunately, many of the Brothers' new fans have no patience for anything that's not Auto-Tune

10008-443: The Gregory Brothers' early political satires in the spring of 2009, but the group did not achieve mainstream recognition until the summer of 2010, when they released episode 12b of Auto-Tune the News , titled " Bed Intruder Song ," which featured excerpts from an interview with alleged crime victims Kelly Dodson and her brother, Antoine Dodson , was viewed approximately 50 million times during its first six months online, making it

10147-485: The Internet by word-of-mouth, film festivals, VHS tapes, and even to fill time gaps during the early days of cable. Perhaps the earliest was Reefer Madness , a 1936 "educational" film that circulated under several different titles. It was rediscovered by Keith Stroup , founder of NORML , who circulated prints of the film around college film festivals in the 1970s. The company who produced the prints, New Line Cinema ,

10286-467: The Jewish experience", but has been told not to worry about that by his Jewish friends and said in the same interview that he likes "the idea of religion as a source of community". When asked if he was a "believer", he responded, "In God? I don't know. Yes. To a certain extent. It's a complicated question." In 2015, he had an official bar mitzvah ceremony, presided over by a rabbi. Due to his support for

10425-531: The Justice Department have stated that they do not believe increased scrutiny of officers has increased crime. Two videos went viral in October 2015 of a white school police officer assaulting an African-American student. The videos, apparently taken with cell phones by other students in the classroom, were picked up by local news outlets and then further spread by social media. Dash cam videos of

10564-419: The News ", though the group itself takes a broader view of its fans' tastes, believing that "there will definitely be some fans who found us through our videos, and who will be disappointed when they hear our records and they're not a bunch of hip-hop political parodies...[but] most people get that we are capable of creating music in different styles, and can appreciate our folky soul jams for what they are." For

10703-564: The Northwest and gained new interest in 1990 after Dave Barry wrote a humorous column about the event, leading to copies being distributed over bulletin board systems around 1994. The " humorous home video " genre dates back at least to 1963, when the TV series "Your Funny, Funny Films" debuted. The series showcased amusing film clips, mostly shot on 8mm equipment by amateurs. The idea was revived in 1989 with America's Funniest Home Videos ,

10842-478: The age of viral videos. As more people are uploading videos of their encounters with police, more departments are encouraging their officers to wear body cameras . The procedure for releasing such video is currently evolving and could potentially incriminate more suspects than officers, although current waiting times of several months to release such videos appear to be attempted cover-ups of police mistakes. In October 2015, then-FBI Director James Comey remarked in

10981-437: The album premiered on December 6, 2018. A Spotify-only EP released on April 1st 2024 with 4 tracks promoting a non-existing Duolingo on Ice show. Viral video Viral videos are videos that become popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, primarily through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email . For a video to be shareable or spreadable, it must focus on

11120-452: The band's songs; the most popular was " We Like the Moon ", whose viral popularity on the internet prompted Quiznos to parody the song for a commercial. The most famous self-hosted home of viral videos is perhaps Homestar Runner , released in the early 2000’s and is still running today In the mid 2000’s more social media websites such as Facebook (2004) [1] and Twitter (2006) [2] gave users

11259-492: The camera wasn't on me ... So I was improvising a little bit back then, but not in a productive way." After his film debut Never Been Kissed , he played a popular jock named Chris in Whatever It Takes (2000), a modern-day remake of the 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac . He was subsequently cast as the title role in director Mark Rydell 's 2001 TV biographical film James Dean . To immerse himself in

11398-411: The campaign. In June 2007, " I Got a Crush... on Obama ", a music video featuring a girl claiming to have a crush on presidential candidate Barack Obama , appeared. Unlike previously popular political videos, it did not feature any celebrities and was purely user-generated . The video garnered many viewers and gained attention in the mainstream media. YouTube became a powerful source of campaigning for

11537-430: The clips are voted on by a live filmed audience, with the winners awarded a monetary prize. During the internet's public infancy, the 1996 Seinfeld episode " The Little Kicks " addresses the distribution of a viral video through non-online, non-broadcast means. It concludes with the citizens of New York City having individually witnessed Elaine's terrible dancing via a bootleg copy of a feature film, establishing that

11676-401: The collection, stating "The author fails to find anything remotely insightful to say in these 11 amazingly underwhelming stories". In January 2011, Franco screened his multimedia project, entitled Three's Company The Drama , in which he merges video and art to update the titular sitcom , at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival . Franco reunited with Milk director Van Sant to make Unfinished ,

11815-508: The content may be curated by YouTube. Modern viral videos tend to come from TikTok (rebrand of Musical.ly since 2018) [3] and Instagram (2012) [4] , TikTok hosts short form content in a portrait format, these short videos are often meant to be humorous, while others focus mainly on music, viral videos commonly came from music related short videos and popular dances, TikTok was a large internet sensation [5] causing many viral videos to be made. There are several ways to gauge whether

11954-567: The dancing footage had effectively gone viral. Viral videos began circulating as animated GIFs small enough to be uploaded to websites over dial-up Internet access or through email as attachments in the early 1990s. Videos were also spread on message boards, P2P file sharing sites, and even coverage from mainstream news networks on television. Two of the most successful viral videos of the early internet era were " The Spirit of Christmas " and " Dancing Baby ". "The Spirit of Christmas" surfaced in 1995, spread through bootleg copies on VHS and on

12093-413: The daytime soap opera General Hospital on a recurring basis. He plays Franco , a multimedia artist much like himself, who comes to Port Charles to do an art exhibition and becomes obsessed with Jason Morgan ( Steve Burton ). Franco has called his General Hospital role performance art . Franco began 2010 by making an appearance on the sitcom 30 Rock where he played himself and carried on

12232-554: The end of 2010. In June 2010, James Franco presented his first solo exhibition, "The Dangerous Book Four Boys", presented at The Clocktower Gallery in New York City. Curated by Alanna Heiss , the show featured video, drawings, sculptures and installation. On October 19, 2010, Scribner published a collection of short stories, Palo Alto , by Franco. The book is named after the California city where Franco grew up, and

12371-571: The fact that I'm going to school or that someone takes a picture of me sleeping is like, 'We're gonna jump on that and criticize him for his antics'. What antics? I write. I make movies. I'm going to school. I hosted the Oscars. I take these projects seriously. Franco has deliberately garnered a reputation for publishing " selfies " and wrote an explanatory article for The New York Times in December 2013. He stated: [A] well-stocked collection of selfies seems to get attention. And attention seems to be

12510-475: The film he plays Scott Smith , the boyfriend of Harvey Milk (Penn). Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times , in review of the film, wrote: "Franco is a nice match for him [Penn] as the lover who finally has enough of political life". For his performance in the film, Franco won the Independent Spirit Award in the category for Best Supporting Actor . In late 2009 he joined the cast of

12649-598: The film. Set in 1980s New Orleans, Sonny follows the titular character (Franco) returning home after just being discharged from the Army. To prepare for his role, he met with sex workers or people who had previously been prostitutes. The movie was panned by critics. Franco was cast as a homeless drug addict in the drama City by the Sea (2002) after co-star Robert De Niro saw a snippet of his work in James Dean . He lived on

12788-545: The film. Todd McCarthy of Variety noted that there are "good moments" between Maguire and Franco in the film. Spider-Man was a commercial and critical success. The movie grossed $ 114 million during its opening weekend in North America and went on to earn $ 822 million worldwide. He next starred in Sonny , a 2002 release in which he was directed by Nicolas Cage , whose involvement had attracted Franco to

12927-531: The following month in California. He dropped out of the indie film While We're Young to star in Oz the Great and Powerful , a Disney prequel to L. Frank Baum 's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). Filming began in July 2011, and the film was released on March 8, 2013. He has signed to do a sequel to it. At the end of September 2010, the actor acquired the rights to Stephen Elliott 's The Adderall Diaries , with

13066-576: The founding of viral video producers like Brave New Films . During the 2012 United States presidential election , "Obama Style" and " Mitt Romney Style", the parodies of Gangnam Style , both peaked on Election Day and received approximately 30 million views within one month before Election Day . "Mitt Romney Style", which negatively portrays Mitt as an affluent, extravagant, and arrogant businessman, received an order of magnitude views more than "Obama Style". The web traffic gained by viral videos allows for advertising revenue. The YouTube website

13205-526: The identity of Michael Finkel , a journalist played by Jonah Hill . In 2015, Franco was cast in the lead role for the Hulu limited series 11.22.63 which is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King . The eight-episode series premiered on February 15, 2016. In 2016, Franco co-produced and starred in King Cobra , a true story about the rise of gay pornographic actor Brent Corrigan and

13344-564: The intention to adapt, direct, and star in the film. It was announced in January 2011 that the actor has planned to not only star in, but direct himself in The Night Stalker , a film version of author Philip Carlo 's book about the 1980s serial killer, Richard Ramirez . Co-screenwriter of the screenplay, Nicholas Constantine, was initially unconvinced that Franco would be right for the movie, until he learned of Franco's desire to be

13483-577: The internet, as well as an AVI file on the PlayStation game disc for Tiger Woods 99 , later leading to a recall. The popularity of the videos led to the creation of the television series South Park after it was picked up by Comedy Central. "Dancing Baby", a 3D-rendered dancing baby video made in 1996 by the creators of Character Studio for 3D Studio MAX , became something of a mid-late 1990s cultural icon in part due to its exposure on worldwide commercials, editorials about Character Studio, and

13622-474: The maximum amount of time". The Gregory Brothers (using the YouTube username 'schmoyoho') first became well known for a series of YouTube videos, Auto-Tune the News (rebranded in 2011 as Songify the News ), in which recorded voices of politicians, news anchors, and political pundits were digitally manipulated to conform to a melody, making the figures appear to sing. National television networks featured

13761-422: The media and news outlets reporting erroneous information about him. This led to the actor being parodied in an episode of SNL ' s Weekend Update segment, which an Entertainment Weekly writer deemed "clever". In a 2011 interview, he stated: I've been perceived as this guy yelling, 'Hey, look at me. I want attention'. I'm not going to school to get articles written about me. I'm just going to school. But

13900-435: The more a video is shared, the more discussion the video creates both online and offline. What he emphasizes is notable is that the more buzz a video gets, the more views it gets. A study on viral videos by Carnegie Mellon University found that the popularity of the uploader affected whether a video would become viral, and having the video shared by a popular source such as a celebrity or a news channel also increases buzz. It

14039-400: The most-viewed YouTube video of 2010 (excluding major label music videos), and currently has more than 150 million views. Largely non-political in content, it marked a departure from the Gregory Brothers' roots in political material. Following the mainstream success of that music video, the Gregory Brothers have generally produced a mixture of both political and non-political videos. The band

14178-405: The murder of Bryan Kocis . Franco played Joseph Kerekes who (along with his partner) was convicted of the murder. In the comedy Why Him? , released in December 2016, Franco played an immature tech-billionaire whose girlfriend's conservative father tries to intervene in the couple's relationship, with Zoey Deutch playing the girlfriend and Bryan Cranston as her father. He briefly appeared in

14317-561: The name of the game when it comes to social networking. In this age of too much information at a click of a button, the power to attract viewers amid the sea of things to read and watch is power indeed. It's what the movie studios want for their products, it's what professional writers want for their work, it's what newspapers want — hell, it's what everyone wants: attention. Attention is power. In April 2012, Shalom Life ranked Franco and his brother, Dave, together as number two on its list of 50 talented and attractive Jewish men. In 2013, Franco

14456-484: The option to share videos causing them to go viral. More recently, there has been a surge in viral videos on video sharing sites such as YouTube, partially because of the availability of affordable digital cameras. Beginning in December 2015, YouTube introduced a "trending" tab to alert users to viral videos using an algorithm based on comments, views, "external references", and even location. The feature reportedly does not use viewing history to serve up related content, and

14595-458: The original poster by e-mail and offered a profit-sharing contract. By this means, such videos as " David After Dentist " have earned more than $ 100,000 for their owners. One successful YouTube video creator, Andrew Grantham, whose "Ultimate Dog Tease" had been viewed more than 170,000,000 times (as of June 2015), entered an agreement with Paramount Pictures in February 2012 for the development of

14734-653: The period of July 15–22 2009, 47–54 days after its release, the EP was ranked as the top-selling album on Amie Street in the category of "Soul / R&B". Contributing musicians on the album include Doug Hulin (bass) and Justin Keller (saxophone). The album was recorded at the Mission Sound Recording facility in Brooklyn, New York, and was produced, engineered, and mixed by Zach McNees. The recording

14873-604: The podcast Punch Up the Jam from the network Headgum . The Gregory Brothers appear as members of the Welcome Wagon Choir on The Welcome Wagon 's 2009 debut album Welcome to the Welcome Wagon , produced by Sufjan Stevens . The Welcome Wagon is a project headed by Presbyterian minister Vito Aiuto and his wife, Monique. The Gregory Brothers often perform live with Sarah Gregory's band The Stanleys. The group

15012-695: The popular television series Ally McBeal . The video may have first spread when Ron Lussier, the animator who cleaned up the raw animation, began passing the video around his workplace, LucasArts . Later distribution of viral videos on the internet before YouTube, which was created in 2005 and bought by Google in 2006, were mostly through websites dedicated to hosting humorous content, such as Newgrounds and YTMND , although message boards such as eBaum's World and Something Awful were also instrumental. Notably, some content creators hosted their content on their own websites, such as Joel Veitch 's site for his band Rather Good, which hosted quirky Flash videos for

15151-530: The prominent Verne Art Gallery in Cleveland, Ohio and was an active member in the National Council of Jewish Women . Franco's family upbringing was "academic, liberal, and largely secular". He grew up in California with his two younger brothers, actors Tom and Dave . A "math whiz", Franco interned at Lockheed Martin . He was often encouraged by his father to get good grades and did well on

15290-611: The real Franco held an exhibit at the museum based on his experiences on the soap opera. In 2008, Franco was named as the face of Gucci 's men's fragrance line. His short films as director The Feast of Stephen and Herbert White were both presented within Maryland Film Festival in May 2010. Another of his short movies, The Clerk's Tale , was screened in competition at the Hamptons Film Festival at

15429-432: The reason viral videos are spread and what will make a video go viral. Several theories exist. A viral video's longevity often relies on a hook which draws the audience to watch it. The hook, often a memorable phrase or moment, is able to become a part of the viral video culture after being shown repeatedly. The hooks, or key signifiers, are not able to be predicted before the videos become viral. The early view pattern of

15568-494: The release of his band Daddy's first single Love in the Old Days and their first EP MotorCity. On July 9, 2013, Franco announced that he would be the featured roastee on the next Comedy Central Roast . The roast aired on September 2, 2013. In February 2014, Franco wrote an article in The New York Times in support of the metamodernist performance art of Shia LaBeouf , describing LaBeouf's project as one "in which

15707-462: The remake of the seminal horror film . Also in 2006, he made a cameo appearance in the romantic comedy The Holiday . He again played Harry Osborn in Spider-Man 3 (2007). In contrast to the previous two films' positive reviews, Spider-Man 3 was met with a mixed reception by critics. Nonetheless, with a total worldwide gross of $ 891 million, it stands as the most successful film in

15846-505: The role, Franco went from being a non-smoker to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, bleached his dark brown hair blond, and learned to ride a motorcycle as well as play guitar and the bongos. To have a greater understanding of Dean, Franco spent hours with two of Dean's associates. Other research included reading books on Dean and studying his movies. While filming James Dean , Franco, to get into character, cut off communication with his family and friends, as well as his then-girlfriend. "It

15985-496: The same name , about the making of The Room , which is considered to be one of worst films ever made . In the film, Franco portrayed the film's star, director, screenwriter, and producer Tommy Wiseau , while Franco's brother, Dave , portrayed Sestero. Franco remained in character as Wiseau throughout the entirety of the shoot. The Disaster Artist was released on December 1, 2017, to positive reviews, while his portrayal of Wiseau gained near-universal praise. His performance won

16124-553: The series , and Franco's highest-grossing film to date. In this same year, Franco made a cameo appearance as himself in the Apatow-directed comedy Knocked Up , which starred Freaks and Geeks alumni Seth Rogen , Jason Segel and Martin Starr . Franco co-starred with Sienna Miller in the low-budget independent film Camille , a dark fantasy dramedy about a young newlywed couple and Interview , where he appears in

16263-435: The set of Whatever It Takes in 1999, Franco dated co-star Marla Sokoloff for five years. He was later in a relationship with actress Ahna O'Reilly until 2011. He confirmed their separation in an interview for Playboy magazine's August 2011 issue, saying that his interest in education got between them. Franco, dissatisfied with his career's direction, reenrolled at UCLA in autumn 2006 as an English major with

16402-467: The show was widely panned, with some reviewers dubbing it the worst telecast in its history. The actor later spoke about his hosting in an interview on the Late Show with David Letterman . He explained that when accepting the job he never had high hopes, adding "It was never on my list of things to do. It doesn't mean I didn't care and it doesn't mean I didn't try, right?" Regarding allegations that he

16541-474: The social logics and cultural practices that have enabled and popularized these new platforms. Viral videos may be serious, and some are deeply emotional, but many more are based more on entertainment and comedy . Notable early examples include televised comedy sketches, such as The Lonely Island ' s " Lazy Sunday " and " Dick in a Box ", Numa Numa videos, The Evolution of Dance , Chocolate Rain on YouTube; and web-only productions such as I Got

16680-721: The soon to be bride of Fabious (played by Zooey Deschanel ). In May 2010, he was cast to star in Rupert Wyatt 's $ 93 million budgeted Rise of the Planet of the Apes , a reboot of the Planet of the Apes series which was released on August 5, 2011. Franco starred alongside Winona Ryder in The Letter , originally entitled The Stare , directed by Jay Anania. He was cast as a drug-addicted lawyer in About Cherry , also starring Heather Graham , which started shooting

16819-425: The state . Facing the possibility of juvenile hall , he was given a second chance by the judge. He recalled of his troubles with the law, "It was teen angst. I was uncomfortable in my own skin. I was shy. I changed my ways just in time to get good grades." Although the idea of becoming a marine zoologist interested him, Franco had always secretly wanted to become an actor but feared being rejected. He enrolled at

16958-458: The steamship SS Orizaba . It originally started out as his master's thesis. It was screened at 2011's Los Angeles Film Festival  – among more than 200 feature films, short projects, and music videos from more than 30 countries. It was released on DVD in 2012. In 2011, Franco taught a graduate-level film course at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts . He has also taught film classes at USC and UCLA , as well as

17097-462: The streets for several days to better understand the subject matter as well as talking to former or still-using drug addicts. He also co-starred with Neve Campbell in Robert Altman 's ballet movie The Company (2003). The success of the first Spider-Man film led Franco to reprise the role in the 2004 sequel, Spider-Man 2 . The movie was well received by critics, and it proved to be

17236-417: The viral nature of videos they had uploaded to Stickam and YouTube. As a result of the case, the potential for cyberbullying as a result of viral videos was widely discussed in the media. The Chicago Tribune reported that in 2015, nearly 1,000 civilians in the United States were shot and killed by police officers—whether the officers responsible were justified is now often publicly called into question in

17375-569: The young Tennessee backwoodsman after he is dispossessed of his ancestral land. Child of God was selected in official competition at the 70th Venice Film Festival, an official selection to the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and an official selection to the prestigious 51st New York Film Festival. In 2013, Franco starred as the gangster "Alien" in Harmony Korine 's Spring Breakers , with Vanessa Hudgens , Selena Gomez , Ashley Benson , Gucci Mane and Rachel Korine . A24 films began

17514-418: Was a vegetarian for the year prior to working there. While working at the establishment, he would practice accents on customers, an experience he remembered nostalgically in a 2015 Washington Post editorial titled "McDonald's was there for me when no one else was". After 15 months of training, Franco began auditioning in Los Angeles. His first paid role was a television commercial for Pizza Hut , featuring

17653-459: Was a very lonely existence," he notes. "If I wasn't on a set, I was watching James Dean. That was my whole thinking. James Dean. James Dean." Despite already being a fan of Dean, Franco feared he might be typecast if he'd captured the actor too convincingly. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Franco could have walked through the role and done a passable Dean, but instead gets under the skin of this insecure, rootless young man." He received

17792-493: Was announced that this segment earned The Gregory Brothers a nomination for a 2011 Emmy award in the category "Outstanding Short-Form Picture Editing." Only Michael and Evan are nominated as there is a two-person nomination limit in this category. While only those four aired, an alternative cut was released on the official 2011 Grammy Awards YouTube channel on February 27, 2011, featuring an auto-tuned version of The King's Speech in place of The Social Network . In July 2010,

17931-756: Was awarded High Times magazine's Stoner of the Year Award for his work in Pineapple Express . In 2008 he also appeared in two films by American artist Carter , exhibited at the Yvon Lambert gallery in Paris. On September 20, 2008, he hosted the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live ( SNL ), and a second time on December 19, 2009. Franco starred with Sean Penn , Josh Brolin and Emile Hirsch , in Gus Van Sant 's Milk (2008). In

18070-489: Was commissioned to produce the theme song for the Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt , which was based on their " Bed Intruder Song ". Song Voyage (a pun on " bon voyage ") is a The Station web series starring the four Gregory Brothers, who are also co-creators and co-producers along with Portal A Interactive . Directed by Dan Eckman , the comedy travel series features the Gregory Brothers visiting nations in

18209-624: Was featured as the cover model and featured focus in the men's magazine Man of the World . In other forms of media, a Chicago-based theater company, Under the Gun Theater , developed a show inspired by and titled after Franco. The 2015 production of Dear James Franco used, parodied and deconstructed letters penned to or by celebrities. The performances used improvisation to satirize their subject matter. Franco has described himself as Jewish ; regarding his secular upbringing, he told The Guardian that he feels as if he has "missed out on

18348-558: Was formed in 2007, with all four members providing vocals, often accompanying "songified" individuals. After 10 years of activity, having earned the most views by songifying the likes of Antoine Dodson , Charlie Sheen , Paul Vasquez and Daymon Patterson , their Schmoyoho channel reached three million subscribers in March 2017. In commemoration, the Gregory Brothers released a "mega- mashup " of their work, in which they outlined their main goal of eliciting "the maximum amount of happiness for

18487-544: Was given a limited release starting on November 5, 2010. 127 Hours centered on Ralston trying to free his hand after it became trapped under a boulder in a ravine while canyoneering alone in Utah and resorting to desperate measures in order to survive, eventually amputating his arm. During the five-week, 12-hours-per-day shoot, Franco would only leave the gully set to use the lavatory and would read books such as academic textbooks to keep busy. Franco later called making 127 Hours

18626-526: Was mastered by Ricardo Gutierrez. The cover art photographer was Denny Renshaw, and Morgan King, founder of Yer Bird Records , is credited with its design. While many of the Gregory Brothers' Songify singles are published through YouTube, their music videos of candidates during United States presidential elections were also released as albums in 2012 and 2016. These were created by songifying audio from presidential debates and media appearances. The Atlantic ' s Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg described

18765-721: Was really just a process of elimination. I was better suited for this role than the responsible surgeon". He next starred in Pineapple Express (2008), a stoner comedy co-starring and co-written by Seth Rogen and produced by Judd Apatow . Of Franco's character, Apatow said, "You tell him, 'Okay, you're going to play a pot dealer', and he comes back with a three-dimensional character you totally believe exists. He takes it very seriously, even when it's comedy". In her New York Times review, critic Manohla Dargis wrote: "He's delightful as Saul, loosey-goosey and goofy yet irrepressibly sexy, despite that greasy curtain of hair and

18904-478: Was serving as their acting teacher or mentor. His admission to having sex with students during his time as an acting school teacher led to lawsuits and a $ 2.2 million sexual misconduct settlement in 2021. James Edward Franco was born in Palo Alto, California , on April 19, 1978. His mother, Betsy Lou ( née Verne), is a children's book author and occasional actress, and his father, Douglas Eugene Franco, ran

19043-458: Was so successful they began producing their own films. The most controversial was perhaps a clip from a newscast from Portland, Oregon in November 1970. In the clip, the disposal of a beached whale carcass by dynamite is documented, including the horrific aftermath of falling mist and chunks since the exclusion zone was not big enough. The exploding whale story obtained urban legend status in

19182-421: Was subjected to significant harassment and ostracizing after the viral success of his video (first uploaded to the Internet on the evening of 14 April 2003). His family accepted a financial settlement after suing the individuals responsible for posting the video online. In July 2010, an 11-year-old child with the pseudonym " Jessi Slaughter " was subjected to a campaign of harassment and cyberbullying following

19321-499: Was under the influence of marijuana while hosting, Franco commented "I think the Tasmanian Devil would look stoned standing next to Anne Hathaway. She has a lot of energy!" He concluded that he tried his best and could have had "low energy" during the telecast. In May, Franco made his dance-theater directorial debut at New York's Stella Adler Studios, where he narrated all the performances. Entitled "Collage" and described as

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