James Franco Credits General Hospital Stint As Franco With Landing His Oscar-Nominated Role
Back in 2009, James Franco — who had already established a thriving career in prime-time (Freaks and Geeks) and film (Never Been Kissed, Spider-Man) and had taken home a Golden Globe for Best Actor, Miniseries or Television Film for his portrayal of James Dean in the eponymous biopic that aired on TNT — made major headlines by taking on the role of serial-killing artist Franco on General Hospital. Now, the actor is crediting his time in the soap world with helping him to nail his audition for 127 Hours, the movie for which he earned his sole Academy Award nomination, for
Training Ground
While soap actors going on to mainstream fame is nothing new — a wide range of stars including Bryan Cranston (ex-Doug, Loving), Demi Moore (ex-Jackie, GH), Julianne Moore (ex-Frannie/Sabrina, As the World Turns), Shemar Moore (ex-Malcolm, Young and Restless) and Kelly Ripa (ex-Hayley, All My Children) all began their careers on daytime — it is far less common for performers who have already found great success in prime-time and movies to sign on for a soap gig. Explaining how Franco came to join the Port Charles ranks, then-Executive Producer Jill Farren Phelps told CNN that the actor had told his manager, Miles Levy, who also represented GH star Steve Burton (Jason), that he thought doing a soap would be a fun challenge. “When Miles asked would we be interested, needless to say, we were very interested,” she added. Farren Phelps praised the work ethic Franco brought to the GH set, noting, “There was an enormous amount of respect and a lot of pleasure that the crew and the cast had in seeing this guy come and take it so seriously, do it so well and do such justice to it.”
Franco was originally slated only to appear on the show for two months, but he wound up returning again in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The following year, the role was recast with Roger Howarth, and Franco’s homicidal tendencies were explained away by the discovery of a brain tumor. It was removed, and while many in Port Charles understandably never got past the pain and suffering his character caused Burton’s Jason and Sam (Kelly Monaco), among others, the character found happiness with Elizabeth, marrying her in 2019. In 2021, Franco was murdered by Peter August (Wes Ramsey).
In late November 2025, Franco traveled to Italy to accept the Stella della Mole award, which is awarded to artists who have made a lasting impact on cinema, at the Torino Film Festival. Variety reported that while attending the festival, Franco reflected on his experience with 127 Hours, which was directed by Danny Boyle. In the biographical drama, based on the memoir Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Franco starred as Aron Ralston, a canyoneer who is trapped by a boulder in a canyon and must ultimately amputate his arm in order to save his own life. The movie earned six Oscar nominations, including the one for Franco’s performance.
Franco recalled that when he originally met with Boyle about taking on the critical role, he felt that he failed to click with the director. But according to Franco, that’s where his GH training came into play, helping him to win over Boyle and secure the role of Aron. Said Franco, “There’s not much dialogue in [127 Hours] but there’s one big speech. I’m basically saying good-bye to my family. Before that, on General Hospital, we would shoot 80-90 pages in one day. I became very good at memorizing my lines, fast. We did it and Danny said: ‘You’re the guy.'”
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