James Franco to Teach Poetry Class at NYU in the Fall

Even with all of the upcoming promotional obligations for Your Highness, new projects with Mila Kunis, Oscar-related spats, aborted autobiographies and Ph.D. classes at Yale, James Franco has agreed to teach a third-year class on directing at the Tisch School of the Arts. Obviously.

Only 12 students will be able to enroll in Franco's course on adapting poetry into short films. John Tintori, chair of the graduate film program, explained the school's decision to employ the failed Oscar host in a press statement this morning:

He's here to teach because he really knows something about directing that he can share with our students. He's incredibly prolific, and that comes from a real work ethic -- and that's another thing to impart to our students.

Coincidentally, Franco's Tisch class has nothing to do with the editing course Franco is co-teaching (via Skype) at the Columbia College Hollywood, in which students will cut together 30-minute documentaries about the actor's strange career. The question remains though: Will NYU be able to top Columbia College Hollywood's class title, Master Class: Editing James Franco...with James Franco? I think not.

· James Franco to Teach Graduate Film Class at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU [NYP]