In the biggest casting shocker since Elizabeth Taylor appeared on General Hospital as Helena Cassadine, movie star James Franco is joining General Hospital for a couple of months as a mystery man who comes to Port Charles. Although not confirmed by the show, it's likely that Franco will be playing Vlad Cassadine, another member of that evil family that vexes the citizens of Port Chuck. His first airdate is November 20.Why would Franco, who's busy with movies and has appeared in Spider-Man, The Pineapple Express, Milk and other hits, take a role on a daytime soap? There's no word from the actor yet, but it could be that they threw a lot of money at him. There's also the possibility that he's a soap opera fan and thought it would be a lark. Ummm, I'm thinking it's more likely the former.
ABC daytime, as all of daytime, is struggling to keep the ratings high. Surely a stunt like this will bring in viewers. That's not just on ABC; that's SoapNet, too, where GH is repurposed daily and on the weekends.
If Franco is Vlad Cassadine, he's already causing trouble. The character kidnapped Luke and imprisoned Helena (now played by Constance Towers). The good part will be Franco going toe to toe with Tony Geary.
More on this story as it develops. Watch General Hospital episodes at Slashcontrol.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-01-2009 @ 3:04PM
alice said...
I bet he has a Mom or a Grandma who is a huge fan of the show and he is doing it for them. My Mom was a huge fan of the soaps when she was alive and most things wouldn't have impressed her but that would have.
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10-01-2009 @ 3:46PM
Anita said...
According to one of the sites I read, he called them up and requested they add him -
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10-02-2009 @ 1:21PM
Mike McNamara said...
Yes, multiple sites have reported that this was Franco's request. And that he's going to be causing trouble for Jason This makes it unlikely that he's a Cassadine. Further, since they were auditioning the role before Franco was interested and would probably not put him in a role with such long term impact given that he's not going to be around forever.
source: two minutes of Google searching
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10-01-2009 @ 10:32PM
tingrin87 said...
biggest shock for me?
General Hospital is still on
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10-03-2009 @ 1:25AM
Gina said...
Well, your attitude can't help...I know it's TV but soaps aren't the worst thing. So stop talking as if a meteor fell from the sky. It's unusual but not soo weird. Soaps just come across very melodramatic but many of the actors are genuine with good training, I don't know James Franco reason for this but either way it's very cool of him...and yes, I too heard he requested to be on the show.
So be nice TV Squad, this is less about ratings and more about an actor's choice (for whatever reason) and I'm sure they are thrilled to have for the time being.
That's it for me.
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10-10-2009 @ 7:54PM
mary Lareau said...
I think it is great! He obviously lacks the typical celebrity ego and I will start watching again! Obviously the script must be great if such a great Hollywood actor chose yo do it instead of another multi-million dollar Tinsel Town Blockbuster!!
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