James Franco has never shied away from homosexuality in his movies, whether it's in an acting role or in one of his many directorial efforts. He's portrayed gay men in a handful of movies before (recently in Gus Van Sant's Milk), and directed movies like Interior. Leather Bar and the Hart Crane biopic The Broken Tower. He'll explore the subject from a different angle in the Van Sant-produced drama, Michael, and Franco has just released the first image of himself as the titular ex-gay activist.
Directed by Justin Kelly, the film stars Franco as Michael Glatze, whose story was first chronicled in the New York Times article "My Ex-Gay Friend". Glatze was a gay rights activist in San Francisco and founder of Young Gay America magazine who renounced his homosexuality and evolved into an anti-gay Christian fundamentalist. Van Sant is on board to produce while Zachary Quinto plays Glatze's ex-boyfriend and Emma Roberts is Glatze's love interest. Franco included another image of him alongside Quinto, joking that Spock is his "new lover". See, this is how rumors get started.
Michael is filming now and will probably hit the festival circuit next year.
