James Franco on his latest project for HBO The Deuce

James Franco has donned so many masks, sometimes it’s hard to tell who the guy really is. One thing’s for sure, though he’s acted in a number of stoner movies, he is far from being on any substance himself. And can you believe that the handsome actor is actually 39 years old?

There’s a new HBO show on the road, and James Franco is at the helm of it. He not only directs, but plays double roles! The show in question is called The Deuce, and in an interview with Out, the actor/director is breaking it down.

“What our show really tracks is how as streetwalkers the women needed pimps for protection, and were very dependent on them, and how that moved indoors, into the massage parlours, and the pimps started to become obsolete because the women didn’t need the same kind of protection because they weren’t outside anymore.”

He continued, “Then post Deep Throat, you got people moving to New York and then eventually Los Angeles and the Valley to be actors in porn without the intermediate step of prostitution. That was the second generation of people performing in porn – or, as you charmingly say, posing for porn.”

James Franco has donned the director’s hat for The Deuce and talks about how Maggie Gyllenhaal worked so well with her difficult scenes. “I had to direct sex scenes in The Deuce and whooo, it was interesting, I have to say. Maggie Gyllenhaal, in addition to being just an incredible actress, is fearless, and she really led the charge with how she handled the sex scenes and how she handled herself, and really set the template for everyone else. If I didn’t have someone like her I think it would have been really, really hard to engage in those scenes, but she just made it so easy. She’s fearless.”

The Deuce will premiere on HBO on September 10.

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