James Franco explained how being 'cancelled' impacted acting career following lawsuit

James Franco has opened up on whether or not he felt 'cancelled' by Hollywood following a 2018 lawsuit accusing the actor of sexual misconduct.

After breaking into the acting industry at the turn of the millennium, Franco, 46, enjoyed a hugely successful career in Hollywood - even earning an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of canyoneer Aron Ralston in 127 Hours.

However, the actor's career would suffer a major setback in 2018, when he faced multiple accusations of sexual misconduct.

Franco would deny the allegations at the time, describing them as ‘not accurate’, but acknowledged that he did not want to 'shut down' anyone's voices in his statement.

James Franco's major acting credits include The Interview, Why Him?, 127 Hours and Pineapple Express (Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

The lawsuit, which had been brought forward by former students from his now-defunct film school, was later settled in 2021, with the actor agreeing to pay out $2.23million (£1.67million) to the two women. The allegations would have a major impact on Franco's career, seeing him take several years away from acting.

Five years on from his last major project, Franco has now made his return to acting in a number of indie films and has reflected on his time out of the industry.

During a recent conversation with Variety ahead of his Italian drama film Hey Joe, the actor revealed that he is 'grateful' to be working again.

"I did go through a lawsuit, and during that lawsuit I wasn’t working. But then Covid hit so everybody wasn’t working... it was sort of like, 'I don’t know what I am'", he said, before going on to add that he used the time away to reflect on himself.

"But I did certainly use the time to, I hope, good purpose. And whatever had been going on with me before, I had to change my whole way of life."

He continued: "So I am proud of the kind of work I did during that time. And yeah, I wasn’t working in movies, but I certainly was doing a lot of work to change who I was."

Franco promoting his film Hey Joe earlier this month (Ivan Romano/Getty Images)

Franco also touched more directly on the impact of the lawsuit on his career in the US, which included his former collaborator Seth Rogen deciding to cut all ties with the actor, admitting 'it is what it is'.

"I’ve honestly moved past it. It was dealt with, and I got to change," he said.

"So that’s it, it’s over. I mean, I’ve worked in the U.S. too. So I’m just trying to move on."