James Franco Wanted To Work With Jack Nicholson So Badly That He Tried To Make Himself Look Like Him

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james franco jack nicholson

Getty Images/Reuters

Can you see the resemblance?

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James Franco has pretty much done it all. He's acted, directed, written, sang, taught, and the list continues.

But like many young, aspiring actors, Franco has done some crazy things to try to make his cinematic dreams come true. He once wanted to work with Jack Nicholson so badly, that he tried to make himself look like the 77-year-old actor so that he could play his son in a movie.

Wednesday night, Franco kicked off a new project he's been working on with AOL called "Making a Scene with James Franco." The original series, which mashes up famous movie scenes for hilariously ridiculous recreations, will be rolled out in three batches of short episodes, and Franco helped launch the first three episodes with a live Q&A session.

During the Q&A session, one Twitter fan asked Franco who he always wanted to work with, and Franco was quick to answer:

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At one point Jack Nicholson was supposed to be in that Tim Burton movie Big Fish, and there was a character of his son, which I think was eventually played by Billy Crudup. And I can remember when I was a young actor, I wanted to work with Jack Nicholson so badly that I got a photo of young Jack Nicholson and then made myself look like him. I did the eyebrows and everything and sent those pictures into the casting director, but [Nicholson] didn't do the movie and neither did I. Not that I think I look like him, but I just tried to make myself look like him.