James Franco to Play Twin Porn Stars in HBO Drama
James Franco wears so many hats. He's a "hot and amazing proffesor [sic]," at NYU, a devoted student and an obsessive Lana Del Rey stan. Now he can add "twin porn stars" to his extensive acting resume.
According to Attitude Magazine, Franco is set to play twin porn stars in the upcoming HBO series The Deuce. His role is partly inspired by two real brothers whose careers were intertwined with the Times Square sex industry, and who became fronts for the mob's control over that seedy world in the '70s and '80s.
David Simon, creator of The Wire, will produce a pilot for the drama while Michelle McLaren (whose TV credits include both Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad) is slated to direct.
The Deuce was a nickname for the area of New York City that spanned 42nd street between 6th and 8th Avenue, back when it ran rampant with adult film theaters and crime -- a far cry from the modern-day tourist destination of Times Square.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the show will follow the “legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in New York from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s, exploring the rough-and-tumble world that existed in midtown Manhattan until the rise of HIV, the violence of the cocaine epidemic and the renewed real estate market all ended the bawdy turbulence.”
Simon commented on the project, saying, “We're interested in what it means when profit is the primary metric for what we call society. In that sense, this story is intended as neither prurient nor puritan. It’s about a product, and those human beings who created, sold, profited from and suffered with that product."
The pilot episode for The Deuce will begin production in October.