James Franco watched male prostitutes in action to research his role as a gigolo in his movie Sonny.

The actor, currently staring in stoner comedy Pineapple Express, hung around strip clubs and brothels in New Orleans, Louisiana – where the Nicolas Cage-directed movie was set.

Franco – who plays an escort who returns from a spell in the army and is forced to return to his former profession – tells GQ magazine, “There was a strip club on Bourbon Street. There was one they advertise as ‘Live Sex Shows’ and I went in there and met a male stripper who said he was straight and that he serviced men and women. He was the guy I hung out with most.”

He even watched as his pal serviced clients, adding, “(On one occasion) a guy came in and said to my friend, ‘Hey man, I need you for a job right now.’”

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WENN

In the upcoming drama Milk (out in December), James Franco kisses Sean Penn.

Penn plays Harvey Milk, the country’s first openly gay elected official, a San Francisco city supervisor who was assassinated in 1978. Franco plays Scott Smith, one of his boyfriends.

“It wasn’t twelve hours, but it certainly felt like it,” Franco tells September’s GQ of the lip-lock. “The first kiss of the movie was out on Haight Street, with, like, 200 people watching, outside.

“It was a crane shot — I’m sure in the end it will be a really cool shot, but it starts close and then it takes maybe a minute,” he says. “That’s a long time on film with everybody watching and, like, a fake mustache getting in your mouth.”

Referring to Penn’s character in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Franco jokes the kiss “was long enough that you couldn’t help thinking, ‘Oh, my God, I’m kissing Spicoli.’”

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James Franco insists living on the streets isn’t as bad as it sounds – he made $20 begging for money in just 30 minutes while researching a film role.

The actor played a homeless drug addict in Robert De Niro movie City By The Sea and decided to live rough to prepare for the vagrant role.

And Franco admits it wasn’t that tough: “I stayed a whole weekend on the street, we panhandled, we made a sign. We made at least $20 in half an hour, so, if you’re ever out of work… make a sign – `Homeless, Please Help’.”

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WENN

Pineapple Express heartthrob James Franco is opening up about playing a goofy marijuana dealer and how he feels about smoking pot.

“I don’t consider weed to be any worse than having a beer,” he told AOL’s Moviefone, adding that he first got stoned watching the film Dumb and Dumber.

Franco, 30, stars opposite Seth Rogan who, in the film, plays a stoner who witnesses a cop commit murder. The two characters spend the rest of the movie on the run from police.

Rogan, 26, says he related more to Franco’s character in Pineapple Express than he did to Katherine Heigl’s character in Knocked Up.

“I’ve never gotten a girl pregnant before, but I have had a weed dealer that I couldn’t get rid off.” he joked. Rogan also revealed that the film Friday with Ice Cube and Chris Tucker “made me want to get high,” and that the film’s title is actually named after a type of premium marijuana.

Ahh, the things you learn!

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WENN

The movie also stars James Franco (who I love). 

Plot Summary: A twisted honeymoon road trip about a young couple on their way to Niagara Falls. SILAS PARKER is a moody petty-thief. He marries his parole officer’s niece, believing that he can use the romantic honeymoon to escape to Canada. CAMILLE FOSTER (Sienna Miller) is the sweetest girl you can ever hope to meet. She truly believes that Niagara Falls will change Silas for the better and won’t let anything stop the honeymoon, not even her death.

Spider-Man’s James Franco is the lucky groom to Sienna Miller’s tulle-clad bride Thursday as they film the black comedy Camille on location in Toronto. But in the movie, their fortune changes after hitting the road to honeymoon in Niagra Falls.