Playboy: Participating in the Venice Biennale is by invitation only and a big deal. What are the specifics of your project?
James FRANCO: It’s a huge project I’m incredibly honored and proud to be presenting. It’s based on Rebel Without a Cause, and some of the best contemporary artists alive—Paul McCarthy, Douglas Gordon, Ed Ruscha, Aaron Young, Damon McCarthy and Harmony Korine—worked on different sections. I wanted Robert Pattinson to be in the project, but when Harmony (Rebel's director) contacted him and told him the concept, Rob said, “I don’t get the point,” so that was that.
PLAYBOY: Is it true you wanted to do a Twilight movie?
FRANCO: I had my agent tell [director] Bill Condon that I’d be happy to do anything in Breaking Dawn, but that was because it was supposed to be part of a multimedia project at Yale. I was working with a Yale undergraduate who had written an autobiographical play about putting on a theatrical production of Twilight in which I was a character. So I was interested in Twilight because I was going to be part of that play. I thought what a great connection it would be if I were also involved with the real Twilight. Full Interview
