James Franco has returned with season 3 of “Making a Scene” and the Emmy-nominated spoof series has found a new home on the forthcoming video service from French startup Blackpills, after AOL carried the first two seasons.
The first two seasons of “Making a Scene with James Franco,” which he directs and stars in, featured mashups of movies (season 1) and TV shows (season 2). For the latest installment, Franco and team decided to create episodes spanning films, music and television. The focus of each episode in season 3 will be randomly determined by a dart board and a spinning wheel, which is one of the show’s trademark elements.
The 10-episode third season includes “Anaconda Scissorhands” (pictured above), a parody fusion of Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda” and “Edward Scissorhands”; “Famous Potter,” a mashup of Kanye West’s “Famous” with the Harry Potter series; and “Poker Things,” which melds Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” with Netflix original series “Stranger Things.”
“Making a Scene with James Franco” is slated to debut in April on Blackpills, the yet-to-launch video service founded by Deezer cofounder Daniel Marhely and ex-Canal Plus exec Patrick Holzman. Other productions Blackpills has acquired or commissioned include Adaptive Studios’ short-form thriller “Pineapple” and projects from social-media influencer Logan Paul and filmmaker Luc Besson.
Season 3 of the series was produced by INE Entertainment and Franco’s Rabbit Bandini Prods.
“Since we were kids, music videos have been such a big part of pop culture for us,” Vince Jolivette, co-founder of Rabbit Bandini, said in statement. “So it seemed natural for us to take what we’ve been doing with our favorite movies and television shows and apply that same creative madness to some of our favorite, iconic music videos.”
Actors and social-media celebs guest starring in this season include Josh Peck, Juno Temple, Liza Koshy, Brandon Rogers, Toby Turner, Brittany Furlan, Kian Lawley and Lia-Marie Johnson. Shooting on season 3 of “Making a Scene with James Franco” began Dec. 19 in L.A. and wrapped this week.
“Making a Scene with James Franco” was packaged by CAA. Franco is currently repped by UTA.
Season 2 earned a 2016 Emmy Award nomination in the outstanding short-form variety series category. The show is executive produced by Franco, Jolivette and Jay Davis for Rabbit Bandini and Eric Day, Mark Koops and Jennifer Heftler for INE Entertainment.
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By admin • 0 comments • 43 | Making a Scene • News • The Sound and the Fury |
A director and screenwriter as well as an Oscar-nominated actor (and former “30 Rock” co-star of TODAY guest host Jane Krakowski), James Franco has a new project: a film adaptation of William Faulkner’s classic “The Sound and the Fury.” He also talks about “Making a Scene with James Franco,” the AOL Originals series that mashes up TV series chosen by a wheel of fortune.
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You’re going to need a little bit of background information before you watch this video, so here goes: James Franco does this web series called Making a Scene With James Franco for AOL. For each episode, they randomly pick an iconic series and a TV trope to pair it with. This time, it’s Friends and the “Very Special Episode.” Franco takes on double duty as Joey and Rachel, who, along with the crew, confront Marcel about his diva-like behavior
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Jon Snow is alive and well—and retired from the Night’s Watch to pursue a verrrrry different career path—in the next episode of the webseries Making a Scene With James Franco. Wanna know what the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch is up to now? Wedding planning.
James Franco stars as the possibly dead warrior in the latest episode of his webseries, which combines current TV favorites with totally unexpected genres. Game of Thrones gets the mockumentary-style sitcom treatment in “Modern Throne,” and E! News has an exclusive sneak peek at the mashup.
“I retired from the Night’s Watch. I forsook my vows and have decided to fulfill my lifelong dream of becoming a wedding planner,” dishes Franco as Snow. “I plan the most spectacular weddings in the realm.”This wedding really does have everything! Dragons, a White Walker, some unruly Dothraki—it’s a dangerous affair, made even more dangerous by the fact that it’s between Tyrion and Joffrey Lannister and officially the first gay wedding in Westeros.
“I just want it to go well, alright? I don’t want any fighting, no raping,” he warns his employees. “I just want to marry these two guys, okay? I don’t want anybody’s penis to be cut off and eaten, okay? Not on my watch!”
But Snow knows he’s in deep. “I knew that I was in for trouble,” he laments.
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If you’re a fan of Freaks and Geeks, Saved by the Bell AND West Side Story, then we have something that is going to blow your minds!
On this Wednesday’s all-new episode of Making a Scene With James Franco, the star is stepping back into the shoes (or should we say beanie?) of his iconic Freaks and Geeks character, Daniel Desario — and only ETonline has your exclusive sneak peek.
The episode — which is hilariously titled “Saved by the Freaks” — is a Saved by the Bell – Freaks and Geeks mashup with Franco playing both Desario and Bayside’s very own Zack Morris. To make matters even more wonderfully bizarre, it’s also a West Side Story parody.
“When you’re a freak, you’re a freak all the way from your first cigarette to your first second base!” Franco hilariously sings to the music of “Jet Song” in our video above. “When you’re a freak, you cheat on your tests, you cut all your classes. Led Zepplin’s the best!”
Fans are then treated to a snap-filled hallway showdown between Franco leading the Freak and Geeks gang, and Franco — complete with an epic blond wig and acid-washed jeans — and the Saved by the Bell group.
Which ’90s show will win?! Tune into the all-new episode of Making a Scene beginning Wednesday, Sept. 30 at midnight ET on AOL.
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The newest episode of James Franco’s TV-mashup web series, Making a Scene, is notable for two reasons: Alicia Silverstone makes a guest appearance, and the sketch lets Al Bundy live out what is probably a lifelong fantasy.
In The Hollywood Reporter’s exclusive first look at Wednesday’s show, Franco teases a Married With Children/Dexter mashup in which Al (Franco) is a serial killer who is very into his work. He’s not nearly as meticulous as Dexter Morgan, however.
Silverstone plays Al’s neighbor/nemesis, Marcy. After she and Al trade insults, she meets the same bloody fate as the rest of the Bundy clan. The patently awful headless effect just makes the scene that much funnier, and it fits in with the cheap-looking, “cardboard” set, as Franco refers to it.
Making a Scene releases new episodes Wednesdays on AOL. Silverstone will appear a few more times in the current season, including an appearance as Charlotte in a Sex and the City/Breaking Bad mashup
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Me in drag is not funny,” James Franco said after his famously controversial stint hosting the Oscars. Yet here he is again in a blonde wig and long pink dress. But at this point in the eccentric Francossance, it’s hard to be surprised by anything. In a preview for Season 2 of Franco’s online series, Making a Scene, the actor and his merry band of writers and performers mash up Sex and the City and Breaking Bad with Franco playing both Carrie Bradshaw and Walter White. The scenes with Carrie and her girls land much better than the Walter White bits. Who knew Alicia Silverstone was the parody Charlotte we deserved? But maybe someone should have taught Franco and his writers a few more of Bryan Cranston’s signature catchphrases. There’s only so much mileage you can get out of repeating “I am the one who knocks.” Come for the cosmos and sex jokes, stay for Samantha knocking boots with Pinkman. If the meth trailer is a-rocking . . .
You can see more of Franco’s TV mash-ups—including his bug-eyed Jon Snow—over on Aol.com.
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The AOL series also has Franco playing Walter White and Carrie Bradshaw in season two.
As if James Franco weren’t busy enough — with several film projects, a David Simon pilot for HBO and a Hulu original series on his plate — he’s also starring in a bunch of different TV shows this fall.More or less, anyway. Franco’s web series, Making a Scene, launches its second season on AOL on Wednesday. After mashing up famous movie scenes in season one, Franco and his collaborators (including, in several episodes, Alicia Silverstone) are tackling TV shows this time out.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Franco discusses the genesis of the project, how to make a good mashup and revisiting his Freaks and Geeks character.
How did Making a Scene come together?
Basically, what I really liked about the concept we came up with was that there were two steps in the creative process that would be out of my and my collaborators’ control. We wouldn’t pick which movies or TV shows would be featured; we would ask people online which ones they wanted. Then once we had those titles, we put them all on a wheel to decide which ones would be mashed up. It’s sort of like a challenge for us — once we have those things mashed up, we have to make sense of them.
I guess, initially, I thought it would be great because it would take a little pressure off of us. If it’s a weird mashup, we’re not to blame. We didn’t choose it.
Does the approach change at all when you’re doing TV mashups, as opposed to movies?
We found when we were doing the first season that, in movies, there are a lot of famous scenes. People can really cite scenes — for some reason, scenes in movies seem to stand out more. When we decided to do television shows, we started thinking [about], what are we asking people to pick? It seemed like picking specific scenes wouldn’t work the same way with television shows. In fact, what is primary in television shows are situations, characters, concepts. Those would be the things we would then play on in season two.
When we’re mashing up two shows, what we thought about and talked about is, which show’s style are we using? Which show are we shooting it like? If we’re doing Breaking Bad and Sex and the City, does one style take priority over the other? Then also trying to figure out how the characters of these two worlds would come together. So, in that case, Walter White is on a date with Carrie, and Carrie’s back with the ladies, telling everyone what the date was like.
And playing both Walter and Carrie, you get to have sex with yourself.
One of the fun things about it is, it doesn’t have to be perfect. The effects can be crude, and I think it can make certain things like that even funnier, in a way.
There’s a Freaks and Geeks mashup this season too, correct?
Yeah, that was the last one we shot, I think, so we’re still cutting it. That, funnily enough, got mashed up with Saved by the Bell. It’s high school characters vs. high school characters. That one actually turned into a musical, so you’re going to get a Freaks and Geeks-Saved by the Bell musical.
Was it strange slipping back into Daniel Desario again?
It was weird because it’s been like 14 or 15 years. I can’t believe it when I say that. It’s kind of shocking to me that it’s been that long. … When I was on the show, it was the first thing I did that was actually any good. … I didn’t really understand that at the time, how rare that is or how hard it is to get such talented people together on something. When I was on it, I didn’t really appreciate it. In hindsight, I can really see how special it was.
I think there are a lot of people around who don’t like their earlier work. I interviewed Jared Leto for Interview magazine, and I was told, “Don’t ask about My So-Called Life. He doesn’t like to talk about it.” (Laughs.) I’m like the opposite of that. I love Freaks and Geeks, so going back was fun.
In this era, when every fondly remembered show seems to be getting a reboot, could you see a Freaks and Geeks reunion happening?
It’s a little tough with that show because it was really based around us being so young. If we do the older version, I think people are just gonna be like, “Oh. That’s weird.” (Laughs.) I haven’t seen it, but I think the new Wet Hot American Summer — we could do something like that.
Lastly, how did you get involved with David Simon’s pilot The Deuce?
I had talked to David over a year ago about another project that just didn’t work out, schedulewise. But we got along really well, and he had told me about other things he was doing. … Then, last Christmas, I was reading this book called Difficult Men, about the third golden age of TV. … I just loved it. I thought, “You know what? These kinds of shows are something I want to be a part of. I love this long-form approach — I love everything about it as an actor and storyteller.” I just emailed David and said, “Hey, what about those other projects? Let’s do one.” He said, “Well, I’ve got The Deuce.” It just sounded like everything I got into acting and filmmaking to do. It’s ’70s New York, the world of Taxi Driver and Mean Streets — it was everything I wanted. After that call, we just went full steam ahead and put it together.