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James Franco's 'General Hospital' stint explained

Curt Wagner on 11.10.09 at 9:40 AM | no comments

James Franco does a scene with Kirsten Storms (Maxie) and Maurice Benard (Sonny) on "General Hospital."

By now you've probably heard that Golden Globe winner and all-around handsome man James Franco has joined the cast of the soap opera "General Hospital."

If you're like me, you might be saying "WTF?!" Well, "General Hospital" executive producer Jill Farren Phelps told The Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog that Franco contacted them, because "he had heard [soaps] are hard and thought it would be fun to try."

Franco's having a good time, he told NYmag.com. "It's been a blast so far. It was kind of mind-blowing. I've worked one day on it. It's one day of a few. But I think we packed seven episodes of my material in.

James Franco's character, "Franco," will be mysterious, but that's about all "General Hospital" producers are revealing. ABC photos

"They gave me a script for the day that was as thick as a film script and that's what we planned to shoot in a single day. No ad-libbing. If I needed it, they said they had a teleprompter, but the regulars didn't use it so I didn't want to use it, either. Anyway, I'm pretty good at remembering lines."

Franco's keeping busy while attending classes at Columbia College in New York. He'll also appear on "30 Rock," playing an odd version of himself.

ABC says Franco's first appearance in the recurring role is Nov. 20. He'll play the aptly named Franco, "a mystery person who comes to Port Charles and will be intertwined with many other residents in town."

"General Hospital" airs at 2 p.m. weekdays on ABC and at 9 p.m. weeknights on SOAPnet.

Published in ABC, Soap operas and tagged ABC, General Hospital, James Franco, Show Patrol, soap opera