No Broadway debut for Franco

Oscar-nominated actor James Franco has gotten cold feet about making his Broadway debut this fall. The 33-year celebrity old was slated to star opposite Oscar winner Nicole Kidman in the revival of the 1959 Tennessee Williams play, Sweet Bird of Youth. The play tells the story of a drifter using an aging actress to get into movies.

David Cromer is directing the play, with Scott Rudin at the helm of the production team. Kidman is said to be still involved in the play, though no replacement for Franco has been announced yet.

However, in an interview with The New York Times, the director stated that he is not very sure if the play will go ahead this fall itself as it is still very much on the drawing board. Mr. Rudin is currently busy with another revival, Death of a Salesman, directed by Mike Nichols and starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Linda Emond and Andrew Garfield.

Earlier this year, James Franco had co-hosted the Oscars with Anne Hathaway. He was also one of the nominees for the Academy Award for the Best Performance in a Leading Role for work in 127 Hours. His latest project, sci-fi hit Rise of the Planet of the Apes, has further enhanced his reputation. The actor has two full feature films  — Sal and Maladies — lined up for a release later this year.
Franco had initially garnered attention for his performances in the TV show Freaks and Geeks (1999) and straight-for-television movie James Dean (2001). Since then he has portrayed Harry Osbourne, one of Peter Parker’s friends, in the Spider-Man franchise and was cast by Robert de Niro to play the former’s son in City by the Sea (2002).