![\"The-Color-of-Time\"](\"http:\/\/james-franco.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/The-Color-of-Time.png\")
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ames Franco\u2019s recent SNL hosting gig poked fun at his eternally busy schedule. The Hollywood mainstay, who used to be known for his supporting roles and boyish good looks, is now littering the foreground of all things entertainment. He acts, directs, produces, teaches, writes, paints, sings and would likely jump at the chance to add another dozen verbs to that list. And now, the Interview actor created a feature film with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, directed by 12 of his students. Because when you\u2019re James Franco, why the hell not? <\/p>\n
The Color of Time, the unconventional (and risky) film Franco crafted with 12 of his students during a course he was teaching at NYU, is based upon the life and work of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet C.K. Williams. The film follows Williams (Franco) and his adoring wife (Mila Kunis) as he struggles to write new prose, becoming haunted by memories of his past: His childhood, his mother (Jessica Chastain), his first sexual encounters, and his first losses. <\/p>\n
I spoke with James Franco and one of the 12 directors of the film, Bruce Cheung, about the story\u2019s inception. \u201cIt came out of this idea to unite a class,\u201d Franco said about the initial idea. \u201cClasses are all run in the workshop format \u2014 whether it\u2019s the art school or the writing school \u2014 so the students would make a project and bring it in and have it critiqued by their professor and film students. But unless you work on a collaborative film, you\u2019re not invested in someone\u2019s work,\u201d he said. \u201cYeah, you want your friends to do better and you help each other along, but if you DP on someone\u2019s film, then you feel like: \u2018Oh, this is kind of my film, too. I want this film to be really good.\u2019 So I thought: What if we worked on a film as a class together?\u201d <\/p>\n
The narrative, which begins with Williams as a young married man, moves backwards and forwards in time, woven together like patchwork. With each director claiming a section of the film as his or her own, Franco avoided a \u201ctoo many cooks in the kitchen\u201d scenario.
\n\u201cThe way it was structured allowed for a variety of voices while still allowing all these different voices to work in concert. You have these characters at the center, you have a central storyline, but then you have different episodes directors,\u201d he explained. \u201cEach director had his or her jurisdiction, their section to work on.\u201d<\/p>\nFor Bruce, collaborating with Franco was not only a chance to be mentored by one of Hollywood\u2019s elite, but have the talents of well-known actors at his disposal. \u201cI worked on the section called \u2018From My Window,\u2019\u201d Cheung said. \u201cIt was a joy to work on because I had the opportunity to work with James and Mila, who have amazing chemistry. They showed up on my set right after shooting Oz [The Great & Powerful], in the middle of the night. I felt bad, but they have so much fun together, they improvised whole sections. It was awesome, I rarely work with such great actors, why not give them the freedom to express what their capable of.\u201d
\nBut Franco and Kunis weren\u2019t the only heavy hitters to commit time to the picture. Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain came aboard as Williams\u2019 mother in a series of sepia-soaked flashbacks that emote motherly love and fostering adolescent growth. Wish I Was Here\u2019s Zach Braff also signed on, finding relatability in Franco\u2019s ambition. <\/p>\n\u201cZach Braff had been through film school so he really appreciated the class. I think he was impressed by the ambition of this project, he was really happy to be a part of it. He even told me after that it was such a great experience, he loved the kids\u2019 attitude,\u201d he said, explaining that his involvement served Braff\u2019s own inspiration. \u201cI don\u2019t know this \u2014 I won\u2019t take credit for all of this \u2014 but I think it pushed him to go and find a way to direct his next movie. He had been trying for a long time to get financing for it and I guess having a hard time. He was getting really frustrated waiting for a gatekeeper to say \u2018Yes, I want to make your next movie.\u2019 And so he found a way to make his next movie and I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s all because he saw we made it happen on The Color of Time, but I think it had something to do with that.\u201d
\nThe Color of Time, filmed in Detroit after hours during Franco\u2019s time shooting Oz: The Great and Powerful, had a very minimal budget, unlike many of blockbuster flicks Franco\u2019s attached to. \u201dPeople in filmmaking say that obstacles force you to be more creative. But sometimes when I hear that I\u2019m like, \u2018Yeah, yeah, yeah\u2026\u2019 But in fact it is very true.\u201d The directors were thrifty, using Detroit as a convenient, and as it turns out, ideal location for their film. <\/p>\nBut what\u2019s more impressive than the thriftiness of production, was the array of female characters portrayed on screen. From mothers to friends to lovers and ultimately, a wife, this script offers more roles for females than males. Cheung spoke to this element: \u201dWe wanted to create strong female characters, and there\u2019s definitely a need for that in storytelling. It\u2019s one of my really big hopes for the near future.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Color of Time is available on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video and On Demand now and is playing in select theatres from Starz Digital.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n