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"James Franco has said that he is tired of trying to please the public through his acting roles. The Oz the Great and Powerful star revealed that he will now take on projects for himself, despite what others may think.  He said to Marie Claire about his public persona and work: &amp;quot;I love the academic world but I also like being silly. When a serious image becomes a part of your life, it [is] draining. &amp;quot;I guess it comes from wanting people to like you. I don&amp;#039;t know [if I&amp;#039;m liked]. I&amp;#039;ve been involved in projects that people enjoyed, and I&amp;#039;m grateful. But now I feel free to do projects for more artistic reasons.&amp;quot; He also discussed his interest in gay culture, something he has explored in a number of films including Gus Van Sant&amp;#039;s 2008 movie Milk, but added that he doesn&amp;#039;t deliberately set out to play gay characters.  He said: &amp;quot;In some cases it&amp;#039;s accidental. I didn&amp;#039;t do Milk to play a gay character - it was a great film by my favourite filmmaker. &amp;quot;The equality message doesn&amp;#039;t just apply to gay culture, it applies to everyone. I try to highlight dynamics, engaging with them in a way that helps people look at them differently.&amp;quot; View all of today&amp;#039;s best celebrity pictures - Photo gallery:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/news/a471047/james-franco-my-serious-image-is-draining/>