Did James Franco use his acting school to take advantage of women?
James Franco, known for his roles in “Pineapple Express” and “The Interview,” was accused of sexual misconduct in a lawsuit filed Thursday.
The two women named in the suit, Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, said his now-defunct acting school, Studio 4, pressured them into exploitative auditions with promises of acting opportunities that didn’t happen.
The two former students, in the suit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, claimed Franco’s school “engaged in widespread inappropriate and sexually charged behavior towards female students by sexualizing their power as a teacher and an employer and by dangling the opportunity for roles in their projects,” the lawsuit states. The auditions were a scheme to provide Studio 4’s partners with a pool of female actors of whom they could take advantage.
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Tither-Kaplan and Gaal joined the school in 2014, according to the New York Times, where they paid a monthly tuition of about $300. The school offered “master’s classes” for as much as $2,000, including a $750 class for sex scenes where prospective students were required to audition on videotape and sign away their rights to the recordings.
In auditions and classes, the women said they were asked to step out of their comfort zones and that they were denied industry-standard protections that dictate how actors can be portrayed in nude scenes. For example, the lawsuit claims Franco removed plastic guards that covered actress’ private areas while he simulated oral sex on them.
Franco opened the school, which has locations in Los Angeles and New York, in 2014 with then-business partner Vince Jolivette, who is also listed as a defendant in the suit. It closed in 2017. The school’s general manager, Jay Davis, is named in the suit as well.
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The plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages, the return or destruction of any video recordings and class-action status so that women with similar experiences can join.
This is not the first time Franco has been accused of sexual misconduct. In 2014, the actor admitted he tried to “pick up” a 17-year-old girl after Instagram messages between the two were shared online.