Last we saw Franco, he had escaped Jason (Steve Burton) and Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) at a giant art show by publicly faking his death.

GH executive producer Jill Farren Phelps talked to TV Guide about how this all came about: “When we realized James would be in L.A. for the Oscars and all the other awards shows, we asked if he’d consider coming back and doing a little something for us,” said Ms. Phelps. “He was happy to do it and requested that we use the appearance to plug his next story. He’s also expressed an interest in directing at GH. He’s been really, really good to us. Whatever James wants, we’d love to make it happen!”

James Franco is a critically acclaimed actor whose credits include the Spider Man films, Milk, Eat Pray Love and 127 Hours. James – who requested to be on General Hospital – first appeared as Franco in November 2009. After a two month stint, he returned again to the role in June of last year. He was last seen on screen in July.

We’ll provide details as they develop – but expect February to be quite the month in Port Charles.

Source: ABC

Credit the coup to GH executive producer Jill Farren Phelps. “When we realized James would be in L.A. for the Oscars and all the other awards shows, we asked if he’d consider coming back and doing a little something for us,” Phelps says. “He was happy to do it and requested that we use the appearance to plug his next story. He’s also expressed an interest in directing at GH. He’s been really, really good to us. Whatever James wants, we’d love to make it happen!”

So far details on Franco’s February gig are slim — Phelps will only say that his psychopath character, also named Franco, is still obsessed with hunky mob hitman Jason Morgan (Steve Burton). “Franco will remind Jason and the audience that he’s still out there. We just haven’t seen or heard from him because he’s been terribly busy.”

In an interview with TV Guide Magazine last summer, Franco said the intense memorization required at GH prepared him for his 127 Hours audition, in which director Danny Boyle handed him a lengthy monologue and asked him to step outside for a few minutes and learn it. “James has been very gracious in crediting us,” notes Phelps. “Apparently, we worked his memorization muscle to the point where he was able to blow Boyle out of the water.”

Mutual love affair aside, it’s rather stunning that Franco — who is being inundated with movie offers these days — still has a jones for GH. “The more you get to know James the less surprised you are about what excites him,” Phelps says. “He is fearless about doing what he wants to do. I guess he must feel there’s still something to learn here at GH. Maybe he’s just doing it for the fun.” Adds the exec with a laugh: “He certainly isn’t doing our show for the money!”

Source: TV Guide

“Do you know what’s going on?” one asked in a not-so-quiet whisper. “I’m still learning myself,” answered another. Over the course of the evening, Franco found that he had a lot of explaining to do.

The event was “Soap at MOCA: James Franco on ‘General Hospital,’ ” hosted by the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. New MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch collaborated with Franco to produce what they consider a performance art project, which is elaborate and complex in its layers of fantasy and reality.

“Soap at MOCA” includes the taping of the episode; the event of watching the taping; the episode that will be broadcast on TV; and a film that Franco is making about the experience, which MOCA plans to screen at the museum.

To unravel these layers, it helps to start with the fictional story. Franco’s character on “General Hospital” — who is named “Franco” — is exhibiting his art in the plaza of the Pacific Design Center beneath the looming, bulky buildings known for their cobalt, emerald and crimson glass cladding.

The “art,” described by actor James Franco as “sculpture,” is a re-creation of four sets from his character’s world on “General Hospital.” The first is the character’s art studio, a messy, cluttered place stocked with spray paint cans and graffiti-style art covering the walls. A cream-colored room with colorful abstract paintings and “FRANCO” in silver lettering forms the second set. Another is the re-creation of a 1950s-style diner, complete with neon signage and a jukebox. The last is a glass box the size of a small room, the site where the character Franco had imprisoned a woman in a previous episode. (In addition to being an artist, “Franco” is a sociopath, actor Franco says.)

With this exhibit, “Franco” hopes to lure his adversary Jason from Port Charles, where “General Hospital” takes place, to MOCA in Los Angeles. Once at the Pacific Design Center, Jason falls into Franco’s “art trap,” James Franco says.

“Franco’s” art includes a performance by video and performance artist Kalup Linzy, who often dresses in drag. For the show, he wears a thick head of hair cascading down his back and a black dress with bright red sequined flowers.

At the climax of the episode, “Franco” jumps from a ledge of the iconic “Blue Whale” building into the diner-set below. Does he die or is it an illusion? Even the stunt man won’t tell. The episode won’t air until July 22, and Franco and the “General Hospital” crew are keeping most of the plot pretty hush-hush.

There were two audiences Thursday night: About 100 soap fans, or “junkies” as one guest called them, were confined in a barricaded area facing the sets. The relatively mellow crowd busied itself with taking photos while waiting for the shoot to begin. Meanwhile, MOCA-invited guests were free to roam the set and enjoy a cash bar at Spectra, the upscale lounge at the third floor of the Blue Whale. From there, the colorful set below was framed by a view of the Hollywood Hills skyline.

According to a museum spokesperson, the MOCA guest list included board members, trustees, artists, art dealers, collectors, Franco’s friends and Gus Van Sant, who directed Franco in the film “Milk.”

Franco and Deitch are intrigued by the idea of mixing low-brow entertainment forms with high class art.

“We’re not only bringing different disciplines together, we’re bringing different worlds together,” says Franco. “Here you have MOCA displaying an episode from ‘General Hospital,’ which is a soap opera. And within the soap opera, it’s an art show.” He says that by blurring the boundaries between art forms, he wants people to think about how they were created and understand their similarities.

For Deitch, “Soap at MOCA” is the beginning of a number of MOCA Pacific Design Center exhibits that will have a performance component, he says. In July MOCA will feature the work of film and video artist Ryan Trecartin. An exhibition by Iannis Xenakis, the radical architect and composer, is also planned. Deitch describes these events as “art cabaret.” He says he’s eager to “activate” the PDC branch and not neglect it as a “remote outpost.”

As the evening stretched toward 11 p.m., Franco, dressed in a tuxedo, had yet to film a complete scene. But his dark hair remained slicked back into place and his makeup hadn’t faded. As he laughed with mixed media artist Mark Bradford, his smile was as bright as it had been at 6 p.m.

At the other end of the plaza, Deitch, behind the circle-shaped lenses of his light green glasses, eagerly took in the scene. He talked with avant-garde fashion designer Jeremy Scott while gazing at the set-sculptures. “These are all the sets for the last episode,” he says with a bemused smile on his face. “And they’ll be gone by 6 a.m.”

James Franco reprised his role as Franco, the famous artist-cum–serial killer, on General Hospital today, and, despite being onscreen for less than five minutes, he was, per usual for his GH performances, a total, surreal hoot. Posing as a homeless man, with a sign that says “Will entertain for food,” Franco, his face hidden by a hoodie, engaged in murder-laden double entendres with Port Charles’s resident brassy lawyer. When she tells him to “break a leg,” he asks menacingly, “Why stop there?” Asking the lawyer if she would like, per his sign, to be entertained, he digs into his coat and pulls out a … musical toy monkey! “Thinking about getting a real one,” he tells the lawyer, before petting the monkey’s head very, very slowly. (Between this and the evil monkey in Toy Story 3, the very same make and model as Franco’s, we may be witnessing a real reputation-damaging turn in the public perception of drum-playing toy monkeys.) The episode closes out with Franco having made his way to Jason Morgan’s lobby. Jason, a mob hit man, is the object of Franco’s obsession, and he has recently been released from jail to act as a lure to Franco. It is working! “A famous mobster lives here. They say he lives in the penthouse. They say he’s killed people up there. Is that true?” Franco asks lazily, before removing his hoodie and flashing his best beatific, deranged smile. Missed you!

Source: NY Mag

Franco returns to “GH” on June 30, and that same day he’ll make his first-ever appearance on “The View.” He’ll be there to promote his appearance on the soap, as well as his upcoming turn in “Eat Pray Love” with Julia Roberts.

He first appeared on “General Hospital” last fall, playing a devious artist named only Franco. He later wrote that he viewed his guest stint as performance art that was intended to “disrupt the audience’s suspension of disbelief.”

It also led to a well-received plot line pitting Franco against Jason (Steve Burton) that led “GH’s” producers to ask him back. For his part, Franco says he had a blast the first time around and is happy to be back.

In addition to “Eat Pray Love,” Franco’s upcoming projects include “127 Hours,” the story of mountain climber Aron Ralston, who cut off his own arm to free himself after it became trapped under a boulder.

Source: Zap it