FOR HILL AND FRANCO, AN IDENTITY CRISIS
‘True Story’ has these real-life characters looking inward
NEW YORK A reporter and a suspected murderer walk into a jail cell ... No, that’s not the start of a lame joke. It’s the premise of
True Story, a look at the odd, inexplicable friendship between Christian Longo (James Franco) and Michael Finkel (Jonah Hill). The two connected after Longo pretended to be Finkel while on the lam from police in Mexico. Really.
So if each actor could steal an identity in real life, whose would it be?
“I’d be Jonah,” Franco says. “I want to know what it’s like to be nominated two times.”
He’s referring to Hill’s double Oscar nominations for Moneyball and The Wolf of Wall Street. But Hill brushes off the idea.
“It’s not that interesting. We’re having literally the same day,” he says, sitting next to Franco.
The two actors clearly have an unforced repartee. But there’s an eerie element of menace to True
Story. Franco’s Longo, suspected of executing his wife and children (in real life, he’s on death row), wants his story told. And Hill’s Finkel, recently departed from the Old Gray Lady for fabricating a character in a story, decides he’s the one to do it.
The catch: Finkel can’t publish anything until Longo’s trial is over, so if the man confesses to drowning his kids, Finkel loses what could be the story of his life and the key to his comeback.
Franco plays Longo as slippery and sketchy, impossible to read.
“This guy who had a seemingly normal life, how did that change?” Franco says. “It’s such a dark subject that it was important that some of our scenes had levity and warmth. These characters had no one else in the world to depend on. They both do bad things. It was perfect that it was me and Jonah. People want us to be friends.”
In reality, the two are buddies, having co-starred in 2013’s rowdy
This Is the End. And their personal connection heightened the tension onscreen.
“You’re seeing us in a very different context than you’re used to seeing us in,” Hill says. “We’re friendly. It adds a real creepiness.”
You can Google Longo the man to steep yourself in the gruesome nature of his crimes, but the movie plays both sides.
“The way the film works is not knowing if he is (guilty), and James has an inherent mystery to him. His acting is very mercurial, and James is the sort of person you want to find more about,” director Rupert Goold says. “Jonah’s part was really hard to cast. I wanted to find someone who felt like a credible journalist. Jonah has this innate vulnerability. You relate to him.”
Perhaps it works because there’s an element of mystery to both actors. Despite Franco’s prolific and often weird social media presence, you don’t know much about him, or for that matter, Hill.
Franco has flown in from Atlanta, where he’s directing and acting in In Dubious Battle, his adaptation of John Steinbeck’s sweeping 1936 book about the labor movement. He’s the quintessential multihyphenate, writing books, staging plays and generally doing whatever interests him. He says he’s not burned out, not even close.
“I know my limits. When I get back to the hotel, all I can do is watch (HBO’s now-ended) Board
walk Empire,” he says. “I don’t think I’m doing too much. There’s been plenty of actors who acted and directed.”
“These characters had no one else in the world to depend on. They both do bad things. ... People want us to be friends.”
James Franco