Franco broke out in Apatow’s Freaks and Geeks; also co-starred in Pineapple Express and Knocked Up.
Alien may have shorts in every f—in’ color and Scarface on repeat, but James Franco needs your help.
The multi-hyphenate extraordinaire’s latest art project, a multimedia-performance installation called BirdShit, is facing a budget crunch ahead of its Sunday run at New York’s MoMA PS 1 art space. Described as a combination of “theater, dance, video, live and pre-recorded music, and a few surprise elements,” the project recently lost a key financial backer, and needs an infusion of $30,000 to cover a number of costs.
As described on its Indiegogo page, the team behind BirdShit is seeking cash to cover projector fees, worker compensation and stage costs. With 16 hours left, it had raised $19,000, leaving it a third shy of its goal.
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The project is said to be inspired by Chekhov‘s The Seagull and elements of Ginsberg‘s Kaddish, ensuring that it is not quite for the same audience as Franco’s big February hit, Oz the Great and Powerful. Instead of leading a flying monkey and gracious witch to topple a wicked ruler, Franco’s role in BirdShit is overseeing several artists/musicians and NYU grad students who are doing much of the actual production. A veteran installation and performance artist himself, Franco is not new to this world.
As with all crowdfunding efforts, there are rewards for different levels of donations. They range from a simple “Thank you!” to a signed post card and — for $5,000 — a flight to New York to attend the performance alongside Franco himself.
Of course, this is just the latest star-driven crowdfunded project; you might recall that a film version of the cult TV series Veronica Mars raised a few bucks on Kickstarter last month.
