There is, apparently, nothing that James Franco won’t at the very least try his hand at: actor, poet, director, painter, curator — you name it. If it exists as a discipline within the artistic spectrum, then the man whose more-or-less sole reprieve comes from the enduring cult status of Freaks and Geeks has likely either already had a go at it or is waiting in the wings for his chance to swoop, a real life Birdman, and bestow upon us his noble failure.
Now, seemingly ill-content with sliding into the DMs of 17-year old fans or the praise he heaped on his "friend and muse" (the last thing James Franco needs is another "reason") Del Rey in an article for V Magazine, with the help of David Shields he’s gone and added Flip-Side to that mind-blowing bibliography of his.
Having already ruminated on the likes of Lindsay Lohan ("Fame raped me/And I raped it, if you know what I’m saying") and Heath Ledger ("Funny, you were Australian and so was Mel – / You were the knight in A Knight’s Tale…"), the book’s subtitle Real And Imaginary Conversations With Lana Del Rey does force one to ask whether the whole thing might have been better kept locked up in that cavernous brainspace like some kind of evil twin.
All that being said, Del Rey is a fascinating subject and there are brief moments of lucidity in the V piece that suggest some sort of handle on her output: "When I watch her stuff, when I listen to her stuff, I am reminded of everything I love about Los Angeles. I am sucked into a long gallery of Los Angeles cult figurines, and cult people, up all night like vampires and bikers."
But, then again: "The only difference between Lana and me is her haunting voice." So I don’t know where we’re at, really. Should have some nice Polaroids, though.
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