James Franco makes incredibly rare public appearance after years of controversies

After many years out of the limelight, James Franco has made an incredibly rare public appearance.

Multiple women came forward back in 2018, as well as four of his former pupils, accusing the actor of behavior that was sexually inappropriate or exploitative.

A year later in 2019, actors Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal filed a lawsuit alleging that Franco had engaged in 'sexually-charged behaviour towards female students' at his now-defunct acting school.

Franco initially said the 2018 allegations were 'not accurate', but it was reported in 2021 that he had agreed to pay $2.23m to settle the lawsuit.

James Franco had been out of the public eye. (Marc Piasecki/FilmMagic)

In 2018, lawyer for Franco Michael Plonsker, said: “James will not only fully defend himself, but will also seek damages from the plaintiffs and their attorneys for filing this scurrilous publicity-seeking lawsuit.”

Later in 2022, Franco admitted to having sexual relationships with his film school students in an interview on the podcast The Jess Cagle Show.

"Over the course of my teaching, I did sleep with students, and that was wrong," he said at the time.

Having previously starred in the likes of Spider-Man, Pineapple Express and 127 Hours, Franco was a regular on our screens.

But since the allegations came to light in 2018, he has very much remained in the shadows.

The 46-year-old's IMDB page states that the actor hasn’t appeared in a project since he voiced a character in the animated film Arctic Dogs back in 2019.

However, he's come out into the wild recently due to the impending release of his newest flick, The Razor's Edge.

The film starring Tommy Lee Jones is debuting at Cannes before filming is expected to begin in June.

James Franco at Cannes. (Samir Hussein/WireImage)

As reported by the Mail Online, Franco was spotted at the film festival at a VIP section on Cannes Croisette.

The actor turned up wearing a tux at an exclusive Nespresso party, a gathering that also saw the likes of Barry Keoghan and Hunter Schafer in attendance.

Proceedings apparently went on well into the evening, with the beer flowing and Italian food going down a treat.

Franco was hesitant to be bothered during the party as he sat in the VIP area, which was guarded by heavy security.

The actor certainly looks very different compared to when we last saw him less than a decade ago.

But with a new film on the horizon, it certainly wouldn't be surprising if we see a lot more of Franco in public during the years ahead.

Topics: Celebrity, Hollywood, Film and TV

Callum Jones