James Franco: The unlikely star

James Franco is an unlikely Hollywood star, refusing to be typecast and happily going from blockbusters such as Spider-Man 3, to more low-key cinematic affairs.

In the upcoming action-romantic epic TRISTAN AND ISOLDE, James Franco stars as an English knight whose affair with an Irish princess becomes doomed when the forces of royal politics steps in.

Q: Were you familiar with the legend before doing this?

A: No not really. I mean I'd heard references to it as in oh Tristan is as great as all the great lovers and that kind of thing but I had never read the actual legend.

Q: You play a lot of very introspective characters even the guy in Spiderman is not all showy. Are those the kinds of characters that interest you?

A: I mean they definitely interest me, not that I wouldn't do something else. I guess those are just the...the better roles I found are those types so far. Like I look at Robert Duvall's career and for a long time like early on he was playing introspective characters then all of a sudden like wow, here is "Apocalypse Now" or you know those types of things. It was just so different from Tom Hagan in "The Godfather" but he had a whole bunch of them and I guess hopefully my time will come.

Q: You are not an actor I would say somebody who has a persona. So you don't need to worry about being type cast at all, which is obviously a huge advantage. So what kinds of characters do you look for?

A: Well it seems like people actually think I fit anywhere, and that they put me toward the brooding type of guy. But I really get offered all types and I don't think it has been a hindrance. It is just a matter of...I mean I haven't been typecast.

Q: How surprised are you at your success as an actor? Are you surprised that you are working as much as you are?

A: Yeah I mean I guess if I look back when I started it is like wow and I look around and there are so many actors trying to do it and I'm very fortunate. So I guess I shouldn't lose sight of that. There is always more that you want to do.

Q: How old were you when you decided that you wanted to be an actor?

A: You know I always had the desire to do it. I grew up in the Bay Area, so it wasn't like growing up in LA where kids are going out to auditions all the time. It didn't seem like a reality. But I did want to do it and then I started doing plays in high school. And then when I came out here to go to UCLA it was suddenly a possibility as everyone around me was trying to do it.

TRISTAN & ISOLDE opens April 15 in theaters nationwide from 20th Century Fox.