# James Franco filmography

James Franco is an American actor and filmmaker. He began acting on television, guest-starring in Pacific Blue (1997). He landed his breakthrough role in the comedy-drama television series Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000). After his film debut in Never Been Kissed (1999), Franco won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film and was nominated for Screen Actors Guild Award and Primetime Emmy Award in the same categories for playing the eponymous actor in the 2001 television biopic James Dean. He went on to play Harry Osborn in the superhero film Spider-Man (2002), and reprised the role in its sequels Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007). For the last of the three, he garnered a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor. His only screen appearance of 2003 was in the ballet film The Company. Franco directed and starred in the comedy The Ape (2005).
After playing one of the title roles in the romantic drama Tristan & Isolde (2006), Franco starred in the Tony Bill-directed war drama Flyboys (2006). Two years later, he played against type in the action-comedy film Pineapple Express, and earned critical acclaim for portraying Scott Smith in the biographical film Milk alongside Sean Penn. For the former, he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Comedy. Franco portrayed the trapped canyoneer Aron Ralston in 127 Hours (2010), a survival drama, which earned him nominations for an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe Award, all for Best Actor. Franco appeared in four films in 2011, including the poorly-received fantasy film Your Highness, and the science fiction film Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), a critical and commercial success.
Franco had six roles in 2012 none of which had much success except the crime-comedy film Spring Breakers, in which he played a gangster to highly positive reviews. The following year, Franco played the title role in the fantasy film Oz the Great and Powerful, and the disaster film This Is the End saw him play a fictional version of himself. For the first one, he was nominated for the Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor - Fantasy. Also in 2013, he directed and starred in the drama As I Lay Dying. He starred in the action thriller Good People (2014), an adaptation of Marcus Sakey's 2008 novel of the same name. In the 2014 controversial satirical comedy The Interview, he was seen as a journalist instructed to assassinate a North Korean leader. He had nine film releases in 2015, most of which failed financially except the animated film The Little Prince, a modest commercial success. In 2017, Franco directed and starred in The Disaster Artist as Tommy Wiseau, for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

## Film

Key :
| † | Denotes works that have not yet been released |

### As actor

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1999 | Never Been Kissed | Jason Way | |
| 2000 | Whatever It Takes | Chris Campbell | |
| 2000 | If Tomorrow Comes | Devin | |
| 2001 | Mean People Suck | Casey Mitchell | Short film |
| 2002 | Spider-Man | Harry Osborn | |
| 2002 | Deuces Wild | Tino Verona | |
| 2002 | Mother Ghost | Skateboarder Guy | |
| 2002 | Sonny | Sonny Phillips | |
| 2002 | City by the Sea | Joey LaMarca | |
| 2003 | The Company | Josh Williams | |
| 2004 | Spider-Man 2 | Harry Osborn | |
| 2005 | The Ape | Harry Walker | |
| 2005 | The Great Raid | Cpt. Robert Prince | |
| 2005 | Fool's Gold | Brent | |
| 2006 | Tristan & Isolde | Prince Tristan | |
| 2006 | Annapolis | Jake Huard | |
| 2006 | The Wicker Man | Bar Guy #1 | |
| 2006 | Flyboys | Blaine Rawlings | |
| 2006 | The Dead Girl | Derek | |
| 2006 | The Holiday | Himself | Uncredited cameo |
| 2007 | An American Crime | Andy Gordon | |
| 2007 | Interview | Voice on phone | Voice, cameo |
| 2007 | Finishing the Game | Rob Force | |
| 2007 | Knocked Up | Himself | Uncredited cameo |
| 2007 | Spider-Man 3 | Harry Osborn / New Goblin | |
| 2007 | Good Time Max | Max | |
| 2007 | In the Valley of Elah | Sergeant Dan Carnelli | |
| 2008 | Camille | Silas Parker | |
| 2008 | Pineapple Express | Saul Silver | |
| 2008 | Nights in Rodanthe | Dr. Mark Flanner | Uncredited |
| 2008 | Milk | Scott Smith | |
| 2010 | Howl | Allen Ginsberg | |
| 2010 | Date Night | Tom "Taste" Felton | |
| 2010 | Shadows and Lies | William Vincent | |
| 2010 | Eat Pray Love | David Piccolo | |
| 2010 | 127 Hours | Aron Ralston | |
| 2010 | Love & Distrust | Travis | Segment: "Grasshopper" |
| 2011 | The Green Hornet | Danny "Crystal" Clear | Uncredited cameo |
| 2011 | Your Highness | Prince Fabious | |
| 2011 | The Broken Tower | Hart Crane | |
| 2011 | Rise of the Planet of the Apes | Will Rodman | |
| 2011 | Sal | Milton Katselas | |
| 2012 | About Cherry | Francis | |
| 2012 | Maladies | James | |
| 2012 | The Iceman | Marty Freeman | |
| 2012 | Spring Breakers | Alien | |
| 2012 | The Letter | Tyrone | |
| 2012 | The Color of Time (aka Tar) | C. K. Williams | |
| 2013 | Interior. Leather Bar. | Himself | |
| 2013 | Lovelace | Hugh Hefner | |
| 2013 | Oz the Great and Powerful | Oscar Diggs | |
| 2013 | As I Lay Dying | Darl Bundren | |
| 2013 | This Is the End | Himself | |
| 2013 | Palo Alto | Mr. B | Based on his own book |
| 2013 | Child of God | Jerry | |
| 2013 | Third Person | Richard "Rick" Weiss | |
| 2013 | Homefront | Morgan "Gator" Bodine | |
| 2014 | Veronica Mars | Himself | Uncredited cameo |
| 2014 | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | Will Rodman | Uncredited cameo |
| 2014 | Good People | Tom Wright | |
| 2014 | The Sound and the Fury | Benjy Compson | |
| 2014 | The Interview | Dave Skylark | |
| 2015 | Don Quixote: The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha | Pasamonte | |
| 2015 | True Story | Christian Longo | |
| 2015 | Yosemite | Phil | |
| 2015 | I Am Michael | Michael Glatze | |
| 2015 | Queen of the Desert | Henry Cadogan | |
| 2015 | Every Thing Will Be Fine | Tomas Eldan | |
| 2015 | Wild Horses | Ben Briggs | |
| 2015 | The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards | Conrad | |
| 2015 | The Adderall Diaries | Stephen Elliott | |
| 2015 | The Little Prince | The Fox | Voice |
| 2015 | Memoria | Mr. Wyckoff | |
| 2015 | The Night Before | Himself | |
| 2016 | Goat | Mitch | |
| 2016 | Sausage Party | Druggie | Voice |
| 2016 | King Cobra | Joseph "Joe" Kerekes | |
| 2016 | Burn Country | Lindsay | |
| 2016 | The Caged Pillows | David Del Rosario | Voice, short film |
| 2016 | In Dubious Battle | Mac McLeod | |
| 2016 | Why Him? | Laird Mayhew | |
| 2017 | The Labyrinth | Narrator | Voice |
| 2017 | The Institute | Dr. Cairn | |
| 2017 | Actors Anonymous | Jake Lamont | |
| 2017 | The Show | Male Host | |
| 2017 | The Disaster Artist | Tommy Wiseau | |
| 2017 | Alien: Covenant – Prologue: Last Supper | Jacob Branson | Short film |
| 2017 | Alien: Covenant | Jacob Branson | Uncredited cameo |
| 2017 | Don't Come Back from the Moon | Roman Smalley | |
| 2017 | The Vault | Ed Maas | |
| 2017 | The Mad Whale | Edward Fry | |
| 2018 | Future World | The Warlord | |
| 2018 | Kin | Taylor Balik | |
| 2018 | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs | Cowboy | Segment: "Near Algodones" |
| 2018 | The Pretenders | Maxwell | |
| 2019 | Zeroville | Ike "Vikar" Jerome | |
| 2019 | Arctic Dogs | Lemmy | Voice |
| 2024 | The Price of Money: A Largo Winch Adventure | Ezio Burntwood | |
| 2024 | Hey Joe | Dean Barry | |
| TBA | Kill the Czar † | TBA | Post-production |
| TBA | The Long Home † | Dallas Hardin | Post-production |
| TBA | Alina: La Hija Rebelde † | Fidel Castro | Post-production |
| TBA | The Policeman † | TBA | Post-production |
| TBA | The Razor's Edge † | Dante | Filming |

### As director

| Year | Title | Credited as | Credited as | Credited as | Notes | Ref(s) |
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes | Ref(s) |
| 2005 | The Ape | Yes | Yes | Executive | | |
| 2005 | Fool's Gold | Yes | Yes | No | | |
| 2007 | Good Time Max | Yes | Yes | No | | |
| 2009 | The Feast of Stephen | Yes | Yes | No | Short film | |
| 2010 | Saturday Night | Yes | No | No | Documentary | |
| 2011 | The Broken Tower | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also editor, created for Franco's thesis project at NYU. | |
| 2011 | Sal | Yes | Story | No | | |
| 2011 | My Own Private River | Yes | No | No | Re-contextualized version of My Own Private Idaho Also editor and composer | |
| 2013 | Interior. Leather Bar. | Yes | No | Yes | Co-directed with Travis Mathews Also cinematographer | |
| 2013 | As I Lay Dying | Yes | Yes | No | | |
| 2013 | Child of God | Yes | Yes | No | | |
| 2014 | The Sound and the Fury | Yes | No | No | | |
| 2016 | In Dubious Battle | Yes | No | Yes | | |
| 2017 | The Institute | Yes | No | Executive | Co-directed with Pamela Romanowsky | |
| 2017 | The Disaster Artist | Yes | No | Yes | | |
| 2018 | Future World | Yes | No | Yes | Co-directed with Bruce Thierry-Chung | |
| 2018 | The Pretenders | Yes | No | No | | |
| 2019 | Zeroville | Yes | No | No | | |
| TBA | The Long Home † | Yes | No | Yes | | |
| TBA | Bukowski † | Yes | Yes | No | Post-production | |

### As producer

| Year | Title | Notes |
| 2013 | Kink | Documentary |
| 2014 | The Interview | Executive producer |
| 2015 | Yosemite | Executive producer |
| 2015 | I Am Michael | |
| 2015 | The Adderall Diaries | |
| 2016 | Goat | |
| 2016 | King Cobra | |
| 2016 | Why Him? | Executive producer |
| 2016 | L.A. Series | Executive producer |
| 2017 | The Labyrinth | Executive producer |
| 2017 | Actors Anonymous | Executive producer |
| 2017 | Don't Come Back from the Moon | |
| 2017 | The Mad Whale | |

## Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1997 | Pacific Blue | Brian | Episode: "Matters of the Heart" |
| 1998 | To Serve and Protect | Kristin Carter | Television film |
| 1999 | Profiler | Stevie | Episode: "Three Carat Crisis" |
| 1999–2000 | Freaks and Geeks | Daniel Desario | 18 episodes |
| 2000 | At Any Cost | Mike Roberts | Television film |
| 2001 | James Dean | James Dean | Television film |
| 2001 | The X-Files | Officer No. 2 | Episode: "Surekill" |
| 2007–2008 | General Hospital: Night Shift | Franco | 13 episodes |
| 2009–2012 | General Hospital | Franco | 20 episodes |
| 2008, 2009, 2014, 2017 | Saturday Night Live | Himself / Host | 4 episodes |
| 2009 | 81st Academy Awards | Saul Silver | Television special |
| 2010 | 30 Rock | Himself | Episode: "Klaus and Greta" |
| 2011 | 83rd Academy Awards | Himself / Co–host | Television special |
| 2012 | FCU: Fact Checkers Unit | James | Episode: "James Franco Is Preggers" |
| 2012 | Hollywood Heights | Osborne "Oz" Silver | Recurring role |
| 2013 | The Mindy Project | Dr. Paul Leotard | 2 episodes |
| 2013 | Comedy Central Roast of James Franco | Roastee | Television special |
| 2014 | Naked and Afraid | Himself | Television special |
| 2015 | Deadbeat | Johnny Penis | Episode: "The Polaroid Flasher" |
| 2016 | Angie Tribeca | Sgt. Eddie Pepper | 6 episodes |
| 2016 | 11.22.63 | Jake Epping | 8 episodes; also producer and directed episode: "The Truth" |
| 2016 | Mother, May I Sleep with Danger? | Play Director | Television film; also writer |
| 2017 | High School Lover | Rick Winters | Television film; also executive producer |
| 2017–2019 | The Deuce | Vincent Martino / Frankie Martino | 25 episodes; also executive producer and directed 4 episodes |

## Video games

| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
| 2007 | Spider-Man 3 | Harry Osborn / New Goblin | | |

## Music videos

| Year | Title | Artist | Role | Ref. |
| 2013 | "City of Angels" | Thirty Seconds to Mars | Himself | |
| 2016 | "Only in America" | Riff Raff | Riff Raff | |

## Web

| | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
| 2014–2015 | Making a Scene with James Franco | Himself / Various characters | | |