James Franco says friendship with Seth Rogen is “over”

James Franco has opened up about the breakdown of his relationship with long-time collaborator Seth Rogen.

The pair first met while starring in the 1999 teen comedy-drama series Freaks and Geeks and went on to make a number of hit movie together, including 2008’s Pineapple Express, 2014’s The Interview and 2017’s The Disaster Artist.

However, in 2018, after Franco admitted to sleeping with students at his acting school, Rogen publicly distanced himself.

In a new interview with Variety, Franco said the pair are no longer in contact, and that their friendship is seemingly “over”.

“I haven’t talked to Seth,” he said. “I love Seth, we had 20 great years together, but I guess it’s over. And not for lack of trying. I’ve told him how much he’s meant to me.”

In 2018, five women – including four of Franco’s former students – accused him of sexually inappropriate behaviour. At the time, the actor said the allegations were “not accurate” but he did not want to “shut down” people who do “not have a voice”.

The actor has since admitted to sleeping with some of his former pupils, saying “that was wrong” but “it wasn’t a master plan on my part”.

Two of Franco’s accusers went on to seek legal action in 2019 and the actor reportedly agreed to pay $2.23m (£1.67m) to settle the suit.

Franco has since been on a career hiatus, but recently made his return to acting with the French thriller The Price of Money: A Largo Winch Adventure, which came out in France this July but has no plans to release to release in the US.

The actor is now promoting his new film Hey Joe, in which he plays an alcoholic American WWII vet who winds up back in Naples in the early ’70s in search of a son he fathered there before absconding to New Jersey.

“I’m so grateful to be working,” Franco told Variety. “Being told you’re bad is painful, but ultimately, that’s kind of what I needed to just stop going the way I was going.”

Asked whether he thought it was unfair for him to be cast out of Hollywood following the allegations, he said: “I mean, it is what it is. I’ve honestly moved past it. It was dealt with, and I got to change. So that’s it, it’s over. I mean, I’ve worked in the US too. So I’m just trying to move on.”

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