Movie Musing: James Franco is an Alien in Spring Breakers

James Franco Plays a Rapper named Alien in Movie Spring Breakers

Take a look at the photos above. The amiable James Franco has been replaced by a man born and bred in the streets, a back alley or a dumpster. He sports some well-knotted braids with Rastafarian-colored beads, gritty metallic grills, an arm tattoo and an assortment of rings and a watch encrusted with precious metals. Don’t forget those 2 polished guns and the sun-slick shades. No doubt, this is a guy who smokes weed like an ordinary man would drink mineral water. This is the new guise adopted by James Franco for the recently released movie Spring Breakers, where he plays a rapper by the name of Alien. Indeed, he does look like he’s from another planet or parallel universe.

Spring Breakers is a movie about 4 college girls (Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, Selena Gomez and Rachel Korine) who dream of an unforgettable spring break. Of course, this would require money of some sort as a memorable vacation should be lavish and extravagant. My choice would be to save up cash by working part-time or simply asking family for money. But these sensible girls decide to rob a restaurant instead, inevitably earning these inexperienced criminals a jail cell. Enter James Franco’s Alien, a drug and arms dealer who bails these college chicks out. Don’t call him a Samaritan just yet, because there are strings attached for these girls, which grants them their wish of that historic spring break.

Back to Franco now, many have wondered about his inspiration for the role and initial guesses pointed at a rapper named Riff Raff, pictured below. There is a clear and uncanny resemblance, but Franco claims that Riff Raff was not the primary source of research, despite him studying some of the rapper’s music videos.

Rap Artist Riff Raff

The actual basis for the character is another artist bearing the title Dangeruss, relatively unknown. Don’t let his name fool you, because Franco says otherwise. When the actor first visited Dangeruss at the rapper’s place, he stumbled upon a rather conventional suburban home and encountered a humble man devoid of the usual ego surrounding such people. This is explained by Dangeruss’ beginnings (actual name Russ Curry), where his father left his family early on, making him the man of the house. He had to look out for his brother, mother and grandmother in a hostile neighborhood, which meant that he himself had to get involved in the streets, as his music suggests. Franco was quite startled by the artist's song content, as Curry's residence or even his personality in no way could be associated with a man immersed in a gangster stomping ground.

Rap Artist Dangeruss

Franco uses this input to his best advantage portraying a character that is at present, lauded by movie critics. Beyond the movie, the actor has formed a rather close connection with the rapper, so much so that he even directed a music video for Curry, seen at the end of this page.

If Franco’s outlandish performance is not enough to lure you into the cinema, there are more carnal pleasures at store on screen, with girls in bikinis frequenting the camera at every take, including the 4 female leads. I should have started off the article with that.