Hollywood Dreaming: Stories, Pictures, and Poems

Description

In his follow-up to A California Childhood, James Franco reflects on his life in Hollywood and beyond through an intimate and powerful series of poems, artwork, and short stories. In his follow-up to the critically acclaimed A California Childhood, James Franco presents a compelling portrait of the life of a young actor coming into his own in Hollywood. Told in an absorbing array of literary styles and art forms-from short stories and poems to personal snapshots, paintings and self-portraits-Hollywood Dreaming brilliantly pieces together the youth of a seemingly familiar actor, playfully blurring the line between reality and fiction. The escapades of a jaded Hollywood insider counter a series of inter-connected stories about a boy named Shrimp and the hopeful young actor he becomes. Each piece of the story, whether visual or textual, thoughtfully peels away another layer of the book's protagonist, whose character unfolds like a Russian nesting doll. Ultimately, the collage that James Franco creates becomes a fascinating caricature of himself, a performance on the page that is equal parts provocative, funny, and emotional.

James Franco is an actor, director, author, and visual artist. His film appearances include Milk, Pineapple Express, Howl, and 127 Hours, which earned him an Academy Award Best Actor nomination. He is the author of the collection Palo Alto, and his writing has been published in Esquire, Vanity Fair, N+1, The Wall Street Journal, and McSweeney's. Franco's art has been exhibited throughout the world including at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Museum of Modern Art's PS1 in New York, the Clocktower Gallery in New York, and the Peres Projects in Berlin. He lives in New York City.

..a peek into the actor s life that s a pretty as an Instagram. "Variety" It s hard to tell where the real James Franco ends and the cartoonish public figure beginswhich is precisely the pointa clever piece of performance art that digs deeper into Provocative Artist James Franco. "LA Magazine" The Franco commodity is now so meta, so fierce, that picking apart the various layers of who is James Franco is futile: he is always and never himself. Franco builds upon his Writer persona, entwining everything we know so far from the pages of" Palo Alto" (2010), "A California Childhood" (2013) and "Actors Anonymous" (2013) to bring together a slick, stylish, magazine-like hard cover book that will sit fluorescently and awkwardly alongside novels on any good book shelf. It is a book that begins and ends with him: preparing, transforming, performing. "The Vine" "This is not what you are looking for if you are looking to read a typical Hollywood tell-all. Franco takes the medium and turns it upside down to his advantage, which is no problem for the king of ambiguity. Said Franco, 'There are many different forms in this book.'" "Fashion Times" " .."a peek into the actor's life that's a pretty as an Instagram." --"Variety" "It's hard to tell where the real James Franco ends and the cartoonish public figure begins--which is precisely the point...a clever piece of performance art that digs deeper into Provocative Artist James Franco." --"LA Magazine" "The Franco commodity is now so meta, so fierce, that picking apart the various layers of who is "James Franco" is futile: he is always and never himself.... Franco builds upon his Writer persona, entwining everything we know so far from the pages of" Palo Alto" (2010), "A California Childhood" (2013) and "Actors Anonymous" (2013) to bring together a slick, stylish, magazine-like hard cover book that will sit fluorescently and awkwardly alongside novels on any good book shelf. It is a book that begins and ends with him: preparing, transforming, performing." --"The Vine" "This is not what you are looking for if you are looking to read a typical Hollywood tell-all. Franco takes the medium and turns it upside down to his advantage, which is no problem for the king of ambiguity. Said Franco, 'There are many different forms in this book.'" --"Fashion Times" "It's hard to tell where the real James Franco ends and the cartoonish public figure begins--which is precisely the point...a clever piece of performance art that digs deeper into Provocative Artist James Franco." --"LA Magazine" "The Franco commodity is now so meta, so fierce, that picking apart the various layers of who is "James Franco" is futile: he is always and never himself.... Franco builds upon his Writer persona, entwining everything we know so far from the pages of" Palo Alto" (2010), "A California Childhood" (2013) and "Actors Anonymous" (2013) to bring together a slick, stylish, magazine-like hard cover book that will sit fluorescently and awkwardly alongside novels on any good book shelf. It is a book that begins and ends with him: preparing, transforming, performing." --"The Vine" "This is not what you are looking for if you are looking to read a typical Hollywood tell-all. Franco takes the medium and turns it upside down to his advantage, which is no problem for the king of ambiguity. Said Franco, 'There are many different forms in this book.'" --"Fashion Times"