TheWrap has obtained footage of the James Franco’s class on “Sex Scenes” at the school where former students — including one woman in the video — have accused him of sexual misconduct.
The video does not prove or disprove accusations from five women that Franco sexually exploited them. But it does provide a window into the frank and relaxed atmosphere he tried to create — including by wearing stained pants and a casual cardigan. Franco called accusations of misconduct “not accurate.”
“Let’s cross some lines and see how you deal with it,” Franco says in the video, while advising two students playing a lawyer and assistant who are working after-hours. “You either like it or you don’t, or something comes out of it. But I would definitely cross some lines.”
The video was posted by a former student — not one of his accusers — two years ago. It features Sarah Tither-Kaplan, who accused Franco of misconduct on the set of his film “The Long Home,” which was shot the same year.
Tither-Kaplan appeared in that project in what she told the Los Angeles Times was a “bonus scene” depicting an orgy. She said a clear plastic guard covered the actresses’ vaginas during a scene in which Franco simulated oral sex on them, but that he removed the guards and continued to simulate oral sex with no protection. Another actress corroborated that account.
Two other former female students said that Franco became “visibly angry” during another film shoot when his request that they remove their tops for a scene was rebuffed.
“He just took advantage of our eagerness to work and be a part of something bigger,” former student Natalie Chmiel told the Times. “We were all these up-and-coming actors who were so hopeful.”
The acting school in question, Studio 4, closed its Los Angeles branch in October.