document: James Franco , earnest in D.C. , on quitting Twitter , getting his PhD Franco poses with 826 student Angelita Bowden . -LRB- Keith Lane -RRB- Ten years ago , on the TV show `` Freaks & Geeks , '' James Franco played a burned-out heartthrob who loved 10-sided dice and Dungeons & Dragons . Maybe he was n't acting . On Thursday night , Franco turned up at D.C. 's Hotel Monaco . The actor/writer / soap-star had signed on as donor-bait for a dinner benefiting 826 D.C. -- a Columbia Heights nonprofit that 's one part bizarro gift shop , one part Dave Eggers - founded writing center for underprivileged kids . Turns out he 's a geek-dreamboat in real life , too . Dressed in a gray suit and black shirt , Franco bumbled his way through a pre-meal press gaggle . The great reads of his youth ? `` The Wizard of Oz '' and lots of Tolkien . His favorite place to read in the District ? `` I 'm not the D.C. master , '' said Franco . For now , he prefers his hotel room . Also , he 's calling it quits on Twitter . `` It 's over . You heard it first . It 's still up there , it 's going down , '' he explained . `` I got in too much trouble . '' When he hosted the Oscars in February , Franco 's performance was so stiff that critics accused him of being stoned . But maybe he 's just wired that way . In person , he 's an earnest dude , not standoffish but not inclined to quippy star-babble , either . Questions about art and writing got serious answers . Halfway through dinner , organizers screened the Franco-directed short film `` The Clerk 's Tale , '' a 15-minute meditation on the sadness and solitude of a men 's formalwear salesman . `` See us loosening our ties among you . We are alone , '' read the film 's closing text . `` There is no longer any need to express ourselves . '' Not bad -- but probably not what `` Pineapple Express '' fans were expecting . Some of 826 's star students came onstage to give the actor another grilling . `` After you get your PhD and everything , where do you go from there ? Where do you see yourself in five years ? '' asked Angelita Bowden , a senior at Wilson High School . Franco gave the teen his most thoughtful answer . `` The degrees , they 're not going to provide work that I ca n't get right now . They 're not any kind of endpoint for me . These programs , they just push me to work a lot harder than I would on my own , '' he explained . `` So I assume I 'll just be doing a lot more of the same . '' From Saturday 's Names and Faces column
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