5 Reasons Why James Franco Might Hug an Anime Body Pillow on 30 Rock

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With only ten days between us and James Franco's 30 Rock debut, NBC released four tantalizing images from his stay at Rockefeller Center. Franco fans will be relieved to hear that he will not be reprising his General Hospital role as an artist whose canvas is murder -- but a college student whose fetish is Japanese animation. The other full-size images and Movieline's own hypotheses why James Franco's arc involves an anime body pillow, after the jump.

In the January 14 episode, James Franco plays a version of James Franco who is roped into an agent-engineered fauxmance with Jenna (Jane Krakowski). But judging from the photos below, it looks as though Franco's ramen-noodle-dorm-life and interest in geeky pop culture endear him to Liz Lemon (Tina Fey). Now let's consider the possible significances of James Franco's hot, new 30 Rock co-star:

1) Jenna's agent manufactures the romance to make her seem young and relevant; James Franco's reps design the relationship to quiet those rumors that he has taken up a Lars and the Real Girl-type relationship with an anime body pillow.

2) A play on that infamous Columbia photo in which James Franco was captured snoozing during a lecture, 30 Rock paints the Milk star as an obsessive sleeper with strange nocturnal fetishes including inanimate characters, cupcake pajamas and a poetry professor's monotone lecture.

3) After a few staged photo-ops with Jenna drive him to a point of insanity and bad judgment, James Franco shares a tender menage a trois with Liz Lemon and the only woman who will never break into a rendition of "Oklahoma" at the drop of a hat.

4) Drugs. Much like Oprah's visit to 30 Rock, the entire episode plays out before Liz Lemon realizes that the person appearing as James Franco is not James Franco but an acne-ridden dorm student with a predilection for eerie pin-up pillows. And those herbal supplements that Tracy gave her were not vitamins but a new strain of LSD and weed called LSDeed.

5) James Franco quadruples the meta-value of his appearance by sleeping with Liz Lemon and an anime pillow for performance art motivations -- inside of a much larger performance art-motivated cameo.

Franco30Rock4.jpg
Franco30Rock4.jpg
Franco30Rock4.jpg

· JAMES FRANCO DOES 30 ROCK [Oh La La]



Comments

  • andreazuckerman-vasquez says:

    At the end of the episode, with their showmance doomed (in part because of Liz's unfortunate resemblance to the anime pillow), James Franco and Jenna part ways, and he directs and stars in The Contrabulous Fabtraption of Professor Horatio Hufnagel.

  • anon says:

    "Tracy gave her were not vitamins but a new strain of LCD and weed called LCDeed."
    Nice. I'm going right now to break open my TV and huff it.

  • Victor Ward says:

    The plot is really inconsequential to me, since, I notice, he'll be in his underwear at some point. Who's directing this episode? Randy Blue?

  • Shkannontrice says:

    Go lord, that is the ugliest dakimakura that I have ever seen.

  • Rob says:

    yes, I agree. UGLY DAKIMAKURA.

  • Joai says:

    Looks like a few of the anime 'otaku' types have come here to chime in on this. I suppose you guys have prettier ones in your basement?

  • davie-kun says:

    You know it, Joai.

  • Akio says:

    "Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop." this comment by Mr. Carrol fits quite good. It is not good to start something without ending it propoerly

  • animepillowlover says:

    I have no idea whose intelligent idea it was to make a japanese love pillow that ugly. I have a CC from Code Geass and it is georgeous. This has to be a custom made one and at that its so godawful ugly. They probably had an original character made one so that the show would not be sued into oblivion for copyright infrignegment. Most attractive and pretty ones are copyright owned, but even at that a Saya Bloodplus one would have made me watch it; hell i would even be aroused.