Other > Childhood & Family x 002

In our hallowed editorial offices, there’s an ongoing conversation that goes a little something like this: “Hey, did you hear what James Franco is doing now?” This is often followed by a careless shrug and a “What hasn’t he done?” While we’ve come to expect the award-winning actor and his equally-talented brothers to challenge the the notion of a linear career path, the roots of their creativity is rarely touched upon. In reality, their mother Betsy Franco is the catalyst for this — and much more.

A successful writer and artist in her own right, Franco’s own zeal for the arts began during her childhood in Ohio (her father was an oral surgeon and an artist, while her mother ran an art gallery). “Creativity was really emphasized in my home,” she recalls “My parents encouraged it. It was one thing I felt comfortable with and didn’t feel pressured.”

Flash forward past a visual arts degree from Stanford, a happy marriage, a growing family and the complexities of balancing her role as a mother against her driving passion, and suddenly Franco found herself at a crossroads that would ultimately shape not only her future, but those of her children as well.

“Painting was my passion, but I needed to make money,” she explains with a chuckle. “Then I had James and [his brother] Tom, and those two were so mischievous and curious they had to be distracted while I was working or else and they probably would have eaten the paints! They were my top priority, but as a practical person I knew I couldn’t exist without being creative. That’s why educational publishing was so appealing and eventually gave way to my own writing projects.”

What started as a sensible plan to earn income for her family by working as a part-time writer eventually spurned over 80 YA and children’s books (including the highly-acclaimed Metamorphosis: Junior Year that was illustrated by her son Tom; sons James and Dave narrate the audio version) and ongoing speaking engagements at high schools around the country in which she extolls the value of embracing a career in the creative arts while at the same time developing an actionable framework to execute it.

“My goal is to help teens develop clarity and encourage them to look for opportunities,” Franco asserts rather emphatically. “You have to pay the rent, get a part-time job, but leave time for your art.”

This philosophy is something that carried over into her own family and readily explains the turns her sons have taken in front of and behind the camera, in literature, education, fashion, and yes, even technology (wherein Franco and her son Tom are now hard at work together on a new app).

“From the the day [James, Tom and Dave] were born they were creative curious and unusual. We encouraged it at home. I don’t think about failure and we didn’t talk about it. The word ‘failure’ isn’t helpful in the realm of creativity. If I do something and it doesn’t work I use it later on.”

Not surprisingly, her most heartfelt choice was to invest not only in her own talents, but to foster her sons’ and eventually join forces with them on a number of projects including book collaborations, acting stints and an upcoming screenplay with son James. “I’ve done a quite a number of projects with my sons which I love doing. I love working with them,” she gushes with pride. “I can’t stress how much I’ve learned from them. When they were little and they saw me working as a writer, they saw the possibility in doing something creative and making a living from it. It takes as much creativity to figure how to make a living as an artist as to be an artist in itself.”

From mother, to muse, to mentor and back again. Betsy Franco has never allowed herself to be pigeon-holed, which seems to be the unspoken mantra of the entire Franco clan if their current professional trajectory is anything to attest to.

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Hey everyone, this is Dave. First off, thank you SO much for all the support. You have no idea how much it means to me.

I just finished a movie in Paris called “Now You See Me.” For once, I am not playing the villain–thank you all for staying with me through my ‘asshole phase’ in film.

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Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced the 21 Jump Street DVD and Blu-ray release date for June 26, 2012. The film, which starred Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, and Dave Franco, will also be available for Digital Download and On Demand.

21 Jump Street won over the critics (85% on Rotten Tomatoes), and was also a big hit for Sony by bringing in over $150 million worldwide. A sequel is already in the works, and Jonah Hill is currently working on the script with co-writer Michael Bacall.

DVD and Blu-ray extras will include a commentary with directors Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and the cast, along with a Back to School featurette.

Former high school foes turned rookie cop partners can’t catch a break – until they’re assigned to pose as students and bust a drug ring inside their old alma mater. Living like teenagers again, they slip back into their adolescent selves and risk the case – and their friendship – with hysterically disastrous results!

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Now You See Me co-stars have been filming most of their scenes in New York and have now made their way to Sin City to continue work on the Louis Leterrier-directed thriller.

Movies> Now You See Me> 4.09.12 – On Set in Las Vegas x 005

Premieres> 2012> 3.28.12 – The Cinema Society & Dior Beauty Host A Screening Of “The Adopted” x 006

Vulture rather unexpectedly happened upon Dave Franco in a hallway at last night’s Cinema Society screening of The Adopted, but despite the location, and his friends waiting on a couch nearby, he was happy to give us the quick dish on Now You See Me, his upcoming movie with Adopted writer-director Mélanie Laurent. “There’s four magicians who come together and they use their abilities to pull off bank heists,” he told us. “And so I play one of the magicians who is like a street kid, and he gets brought into this group with these other magicians that he’s looked up to for so long, and so he’s just trying to earn their respect and become an equal.” Does the younger Franco relate to the street kid at all? “I’m not gonna lie, I had a great upbringing. But I guess I think I relate to kind of always being around people that maybe are a little older than me and that treat me like their little brother.” And speaking of his upbringing, what about that poem he wrote for his grandma? Did she have any feedback? “That’s funny you ask that, we’ve been playing phone tag and she just left a sweet message for me last night about how much she — she’s obviously going to love anything that I do. But she was just saying that she really, after me talking in that interview about how I fucked myself and then transitioning into this sweet poem about her. She was really touched.” Dave Franco plays phone tag with his grandma? Also, Dave Franco’s grandma loves his poetry no matter what. Aws all around.

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