The daily gossip: James Franco admits he slept with students at his acting school, Michael Keaton reportedly to make another Batman return, and more

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James Franco.
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1. James Franco admits he slept with students and 'cheated on everyone'

James Franco has given his first interview in years after he was accused of sexual misconduct in 2018. The actor sat down on the Jess Cagle Podcast and claimed he's been "doing a lot of work" toward "changing who I was" since five women accused him of inappropriate behavior in a Los Angeles Times exposé. A 2019 lawsuit also accused Franco and his partners of "sexualizing their power as a teacher and an employer by dangling the opportunity for roles in their projects" at his acting school, which has since closed. Franco in the interview admitted, "Over the course of my teaching, I did sleep with students, and that was wrong." He denied, though, that this is "why I started the school." He additionally admitted to having "cheated on everyone" before he started dating his current girlfriend, being "completely blind to power dynamics" and "completely blind to people's feelings," leading to behavior that "spun out to a point where it was like I was hurting everybody." Franco also addressed Seth Rogen's comments that he had no plans to work with him again, calling the remarks "hurtful" but saying, "I get it."

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.