It’s back to school (again) for Hollywood’s James Franco.

A University of Houston official said on Thursday that Franco has been accepted for the doctoral program in literature and creative writing.

J. Kastely, director of the creative writing program, said Franco plans to enroll in September 2012.

Only 20 people are admitted to the graduate program each year, chosen from about 400 applicants, Kastely said. Half of those are in the doctoral program.

Franco’s soon-to-be status was first reported on Wednesday by Burn Down Blog, which linked to a newsletter for the creative writing program that listed Franco as among incoming students for fall 2011.

Kastely said the actor originally planned to enroll then but has asked to defer for a year.

So what does it take to get accepted in such a selective academic program? According to Kastely, University of Houston ”accepts graduate students based on a writing sample, letters of recommendation and a personal statement. Doctoral students also must submit ‘a strong piece of critical writing,’ to demonstrate scholarly abilities.”

In case you didn’t know, James has just been casted to co-star in ‘The Stare’ with Winona Ryder, a film produced by Jeff Kalligheri and Steve Bowen. Also… the kid is… well… already “well educated.” He has a lot of education under his belt. According to his Wikipedia page, it goes something like this:

Dissatisfied with his career’s direction, Franco reenrolled at UCLA in the fall of 2006 as an English major with a creative writing concentration. Having received permission to take as many as 62 course credits perquarter compared to the normal limit of 19 while continuing to act, he received his undergraduate degree in June 2008 with a GPA over 3.5. For his degree, Franco prepared his departmental honors thesis as a novel under the supervision of Mona Simpson. He moved to New York to simultaneously attend graduate school at Columbia University’s MFA writing program, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts for filmmaking, and Brooklyn College for fiction writing, while occasionally commuting to North Carolina’s Warren Wilson College for poetry.He received his MFA from Columbia in 2010. Franco is a Ph.D. student in English at Yale University and will also attend the Rhode Island School of Design.

Anyway, I wonder if Franco has to pay tuition to attend. Just thinking… a school like University of Houston could possibly waive his tuition fees since since such a notable Hollywood name would increase the school’s prestige. What do you think?

Source Image via Fame

Movie stars Winona Ryder and James Franco are getting together on the big screen!

Winona and James will star in The Stare, a Jay Anania-directed film that is the first project funded by Waterstone Entertainment, a new production and finance company formed by producers Jeff Kalligheri and Steve Bowen. Deadline Hollywood reports:

Watersone gets started with The Stare, a drama in which a playwright (Ryder) finds her mind beginning to warp as she struggles to launch her next production. She’s plagued by dreams and visions of being watched, but can’t decide if she’s at the center of a manipulative plot or simply losing her grip on reality. Franco plays one of the performers in the playwright’s production.

The film will start shooting May 6 in New York. I love the two are collaborating!

Who’s going to see this one?!??

In case you didn’t know, in 2010, Ryder was nominated for two Screen Actors Guild Awards, as the lead actress of When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story, and as part of the cast of Black Swan. Franco has been nominated for three Golden Globe awards, winning one, and received an Academy Award nomination for his work in 127 Hours.

Source Images via Fame

PICTURED: Susan Sarandon, Kyra Sedgwick, Jane Krakowski, Jenna Fischer, Winona Ryder, Andrew Garfield, Julia Stiles, Claire Danes and husband Hugh Dancy, Rosario Dawson, Robin Wright Penn, Hilary Swank, Annette Bening, Christian Bale, Tina Fey, Kim Kardashian, Amy Adams, Helena Bonham Carter, Haylie Seinfeld, Barbara Hershey, Jennifer Lawrence and Mark Ruffalo.

Winona Ryder is one person who’s not surprised that Mel Gibson is one of Hollywood’s most-hated men at the moment. According to the actress, he was the same way fifteen years ago.

In an interview with GQ, Winona recalls, “I remember, like, fifteen years ago, I was at one of those big Hollywood parties. And he was really drunk. I was with my friend, who’s gay. He made a really horrible gay joke. And somehow it came up that I was Jewish. He said something about ‘oven dodgers,’ but I didn’t get it. ”

Ryder said at the time she had no clue what Mel was referring to, adding, “He’s anti-Semitic and he’s homophobic. No one believed me!”

Source

Winona Ryder plays a role in the new Natalie Portman movie Black Swan, and Elle talks to her about growing up in San Francisco, being in the business for 25 years, and her dating life. Here are some interview excerpts from the January 2011 issue!

On the internet:

“I don’t use the Internet, but apparently you can find out everything on it. I have my e-mail on my BlackBerry, and that’s about it. I’ve never read a blog, ever. I feel like it’s taking away that great anticipation of seeing a movie. It used to be you’d hear, like, Al Pacino was making a movie, and you wouldn’t know anything about it. And nowadays, you know it all, like how much [the actors] are being paid. I would hate to see a picture of me and the caption reads, ‘Is she worth it?’ ”

On choosing her roles:

“If I don’t relate to the [project], even if it’s something that I should do, it’s hard for me to say yes…I’m the type who’d rather not work than work on something I’m not into. I’ve done that a couple of times, and I feel like I can totally see it in my performance.”

On dating a normal guy vs. an actor:

“I remember being at this bar called Tosca in San Francisco, and I met this guy one night. He was really cute, and we were talking, and then, like, he just said something about how he had always had a crush on me. And I was suddenly mistrustful about why he was talking to me. I wanted to be just a normal girl flirting with a normal guy. It’s like you meet people, and they know this stuff about you. It’s why you want to meet somebody who’s in the same business, only because they understand more. But you don’t necessarily want to be with another actor.”

Visit Elle.com for more of the interview – and more pictures!

Notice Natalie’s clutch? It’s the Lolita Clutch from Olympia Le Tan, and it retails for $1,330! That’s crazy!

The stars of the movie showed up last night, along with some familiar faces. Mila Kunis looks stunning! I cannot WAIT to see this movie!!

Fame

Wow, what a cast! Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder, Kevin James, Channing Tatum and Queen Latifah all star in this new comedy from Ron Howard!

Since college, confirmed bachelor Ronny (Vaughn) and happily married Nick (James) have been through thick and thin. Now partners in an auto design firm, the two pals are vying to land a dream project that would launch their company. With Ronny’s girlfriend, Beth (Connelly), and Nick’s wife, Geneva (Ryder), by their sides, they’re unbeatable. But Ronny’s world is turned upside down when he inadvertently sees Geneva out with another man and makes it his mission to get answers. As the amateur investigation dissolves his world into comic mayhem, he learns that Nick has a few secrets of his own. Now, with the clock ticking and pressure mounting on the biggest presentation of their careers, Ronny must decide how and when he will reveal the truth to his best friend.