9 Milestones in the Evolution of James Franco

Pineapple Express (2008)

Franco didn't get a chance to topline a successful comedy until he reconnected with his Freaks and Greeks brethren for 2008's stoner feature Pineapple Express. Assuming the role that Seth Rogen had originally written for himself, Franco played Saul Silver, a charismatic yet lonely drug dealer who finds himself on a high-speed misadventure with a client. Three years later, Franco tried -- and failed -- to recreate stoner comedy magic in Your Highness with his Pineapple director David Gordon Green and co-star Danny McBride.

127 Hours (2010)

Eleven years after making his first movie, Franco earned his first Oscar nomination for portraying Aron Ralston, the brave mountain climber forced to take extreme measures while stuck between two boulders, in Danny Boyle's adventure film. To prepare for the role, Franco watched Ralston's private video diaries that were made while stuck in the canyon and allegedly recited lyrics from Ralston's favorite band Phish.

General Hospital (2010)

2010 was a very "meta" year for Franco, as he became more and more interested in confusing performance art, as demonstrated by his bizarro arc on General Hospital. The madness began with the mindblowing decision to downgrade to daytime in the first place and continued as Franco helped craft his line-blurring character (Franco, a tortured performance artist "whose canvas is murder") while weaving his mother and a real life gallery show into the plot. A year later, I'm still not sure what happened in that Franco Port Charles plot but the actor is supposedly returning to the soap in September.

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards (2011)

I guess if there's one thing that could detract from the first Oscar ceremony in which you are nominated, it would be miserably hosting said ceremony in a dress that producers forced on you and delivering schlocky lines that you know are bad, only to be universally panned as one of the worst Academy Award co-hosts of all time. So yes, this February's telecast was an uncharacteristically dim moment in the overachieving performer's career. But with a full film slate ahead of him (after this weekend's Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Franco will play a cocaine-addicted lawyer in Cherry and star in Sam Raimi's highly anticipated Wizard of Oz prequel among other projects) as well as a return to General Hospital and a plan to enroll at the University of Houston for his Ph.D., the actor will have plenty of opportunities to rebound.

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