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NYU Professor Claims He Was Fired For Giving James Franco A Bad Grade
By
Jen Carlson
Published Dec 19, 2011
Modified Dec 19, 2011
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Dec 19, 2011
Modified Dec 19, 2011
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...giving us a good reason to dust off this taken out-of-context photo of Franco sleeping during a lecture.
Former NYU professor José Angel Santana (also pictured) claims he was fired from the university after giving super famous actor, professional student, and fellow NYU professor James Franco a "D" in his “Directing the Actor II” class. The low grade came after Franco missed 12 of the 14 classes while filming 127 Hours. Santana wants his job back, and has now filed a lawsuit against NYU in Manhattan Supreme Court.
After Santana filed the grade, he says he was publicly ridiculed by Franco, and tells the NY Post, “The school has bent over backwards to create a Franco-friendly environment, that’s for sure. The university has done everything in its power to curry favor with James Franco.” Last year Franco talked about the grade, telling Showbiz411.com, “I did the work... I did well in everything else.” And whatever, he graduated and got nominated for an Oscar for the movie he missed class for... but Santana is still out of a job, and NYU is not commenting on the incident thus far.
Meanwhile, another one of Franco's professors, who gave him a good grade, was hired to write and direct William Vincent, which stars Franco and was featured at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival. Santana says, “In my opinion, they’ve turned the NYU graduate film degree into swag for James Franco’s purposes, a possession, something you can buy." Take note, University of Houston profs.
Here's more of the interview, where Franco talks about Santana as a teacher ("He's a funny guy... he's a decent guy."):
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james franco
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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