James Franco has been in the spotlight of the media off and on for many years now, mostly in a negative sense. He has been characterized to be a difficult person to work with. Regardless of this, he is an incredibly successful actor, having worked in projects like Spider-man, Planet of the Apes, and 127 Hours. He has won many awards and has also been nominated for an Oscar.
In 2006, Franco joined the cast of the movie Annapolis alongside Tyrese Gibson, well-known for his roles in the Fast and Furious series and the Transformers series. The two actors were at odds with each other throughout the filming of the movie to the point that their feud went on for years after. But what could have caused such bad blood between the two actors?
James Franco Was Not One To Pull His Punches
Annapolis is about a young man from a working-class family. After finishing high school, he attends the prestigious United States Naval Academy in Annapolis after narrowly making the cut. He then decides to enter the Brigade Championships, a boxing tournament that pits him against the toughest fighters in the Navy. The movie is grotesque with a lot of fighting and physical stunts involved.
James Franco is a method actor whose methods are a bit too extreme. During the filming of Annapolis, Franco, and his co-star, Tyrese Gibson, were to perform fight sequences. Franco threw himself a little too deep into this role and this caused Gibson and his fight scenes to become a little too realistic. During fight sequences, it becomes obvious that no actor is to intentionally hurt their co-star, and because of that, they are to pull their punches. However, Franco did the exact opposite. His approach to making the scene more realistic was to quite literally punch Gibson without holding back.’
James Franco And Tyrese Gibson Did Not Mix Very Well
Tyrese Gibson went on to talk about how he has respect for method actors and understands their process, but what James Franco did was out of line and unacceptable. After continuously asking Franco to lighten up, he would not let up.
“James Franco is a Method actor,” Gibson said in an interview with Elle magazine. “I respect Method actors, but he never snapped out of character. Whenever we’d have to get in the ring for boxing scenes, and even during practice, the dude was full-on hitting me.”
However, Franco went on to apologize for his actions and wanted to leave the door open for a sequel for the movie, Annapolis 2: BroMan-apolis. These attempts were not reciprocated, as Gibson is not interested in resolving anything.
Source: Looper
