Harmony Korine and James Franco in conversation with Marc Maron: Taste, performance art and playing a character

'Spring Breakers' Harmony Korine and James Franco
in conversation with Marc Maron on a live WTF in Austin

Marc Maron talks to renaissance man James Franco about how much of his projects are genuine. As someone who navigates the world of Blockbuster movies, Arthouse, Soap Operas, Tabloids and Art, Marc tries to understand where Franco's "performance" starts and ends:

WTF with Marc Maron: Episode 374 - James Franco, Harmony Korine, Nate Bargatze, Peter Sagal
MARC MARON: (1h 06m 30s) Why did you do the 'General Hospital' thing was that an experiment?
HARMONY KORINE: You just wanna ask why he does so much shit
MARC MARON: No no because after he hosted the Academy Awards, afterwards people were like "Is he f*cking around?" What was going on with that. You do the General Hospital thing and you make a documentary on that. Where does the goof end?
...
JAMES FRANCO: There's just different levels of engagement. There's no reason not to be able to do all different sides. When I go and act in a film like 'Oz'. I Play the Wizard of Oz and the goof ends. I wanna fit in that world. I'm not trying to wink at the audience and say hey its me the actor behind the character. I want that character to fit into that world. But as soon as I'm done with that project there's no reason why I have to stand behind the facades of these characters and be noone...
MARON: So when you were doing the General Hospital thing, was that funny to you?
FRANCO: I mean it started off like as you said an experiment. I was talking to an artist friend of mine and we were gonna do a movie where my character had formerly been in a Soap Opera. And that got us talking about "Hey what if you were really in a Soap Opera?". And I'd also been reading this book by this guy called Carl Wilson called something like 'Journey to the End of Taste'... the conclusion he gets is that different people get different things from art or culture...

It strikes me that Franco is embodying the privilege that Camus envisions of the Actor in 'Myth of Sisyphus', someone who truly embraces the absurdity of life. Marc in typical comedic fashion takes a shot at Franco for being too precious but to the Actor's credit Franco reiterates the importance of "staying in character".

JAMES FRANCO: (1h 11m) Before I went on, I thought "Oh am I going to have to act Soap Opera style?". And when I got there, a big lesson for me was how important context is and how context transforms a performance...
MARC MARON: And sometimes you just can't transcend the context
FRANCO: No it transforms you. You can never transcend the context to a certain extent and nor do you really want to. If you're trying to transcend the context then you're just making the movie about you and your performance. I see movies as a Director's medium, I always want to serve the Director and the film so I don't want to transcend the context, its just that sometimes the context is weird 

VIDEO: Marc Maron Talks Accidentally Offending James Franco During Live 'WTF' Podcast At SXSW

Find other Marc Maron posts below:
- AV Club's Nathan Rabin talks about Podcast Culture on Marc Maron's 300th episode of WTF
- Actor, Writer and Traveler Mike White speaks to Marc Maron about Adventure
- Dan Harmon talks Television with Marc Maron on GT4: "Hamburger" Art and living in a "concrete, Orwellian Honeycomb"
- Is Andrew W.K a persona that has been played by multiple actors? Marc Maron in conversation with Andrew W.K.

Casino regulars and the Myth of Sisyphus

I work at the Casino. There is this guy who comes in everyday who I call "Sex", named after the perennial 'So You Think You Can Dance' contestant. He goes around writing the results of random Baccarat games, to what end I don't know as he rarely plays. He hovers around the Baccarat pit then will inexplicably dart towards a table that grabs his attention. Every once in a while he'll approach a game as the shoe is concluding so he'll narrowly miss his chance to feign putting on a bet. There's this funny moment where "Sex" tries to act cool, being nonchalant about not being able to carry out his frivolous ritual.

Dave Kenneth "Sex" Soller of  'So You Think You Can Dance' fame

Baccarat shoe history

You know that feeling you get when you pretend to check your phone when you feel awkwardly alone in public and in your head you're thinking "FML, What am I doing with my life? I'm pretending to look at phones now!".

I imagine "Sex's" whole life is like that. That said, I also picture him to be happy.

The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He, too, concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a masters seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of of that night-filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

- Home Reading: 'Myth of Sisyphus' by Albert Camus - On the Writer, Actor and Traveler

Jake the Snake on getting what you want and still not being satisfied

Wrestling legend Jake "The Snake" Roberts talks about temptation on the road and manages to make the coolest thing ever sound like the most depressing thing ever. Be careful what you wish for.

VIDEO: Beyond the Mat (5 of 10)

Beyond the Mat (1999)
JAKE ROBERTS: (8m 24s) The road really screwed up my sex life at home man. You go on the road, you get some type of fame or whatever. All of a sudden you can have it everyday, then all of a sudden you wanna get selective. Then all of a sudden one a day's not enough so you do two a day, then three a day. Then two at a time, then two at a time with toys, then two at a time but just watch. Then it gets more bizarre and more bizarre and it finally gets to the point that when you go home and try to make love to your wife - Ain't no way. Ain't no way because the mental stimulation is not there and that's bad. That's bad.

We all believe we're the one. Are we the Hero or just the Henchman?

In the movie of our own lives we have to believe that we're the lead Actor and that we don't die before the movie ends.

You made it Weird with Pete Holmes: #76 ZACH CREGGER
ZACH CREGGER: We all think we're the one. That's why there are soldiers that will run into -- face first into firing squads in the trenches cuz they think its gonna be my buddy that's gonna get shot. Somewhere deep in their soul I'm not gonna get shot
PETE HOLMES: Every movie we've ever seen we think we're the hero and he always shakes it. That's why we like 'War of the Worlds' where like a car flips over Tom Cruise and doesn't hit him. If you're seeing the movie that's how your life has been...

VIDEO: Austin Powers - The life of a Henchman

'Wreck It Ralph' - Play the game that makes you happiest

'Wreck It Ralph' is an upcoming Disney movie about a Video Game villain looking to adopt a hero persona when he finds himself dissatisfied with his lot in life. Breaking from convention and searching for one's identity is an integral part of the human experience. This premise has been explored before in animations 'Antz' and 'Megamind'. The protagonist searching for more outside the frame of the Collective and the superhero Narrative respectively.

In 'Wreck it Ralph', Ralph explores others game universes to find an existence that might make him happier.

VIDEO: Wreck It Ralph - Official Trailer