'Hey Rio, it's James Franco': Academy award nominee will be in Vancouver this weekend (Metro Vancouver)

Hey Rio, it's James Franco': Academy award nominee will be in Vancouver this weekend 'Hey Rio, it's James Franco' A Hollywood heartthrob will introduce a couple of films this weekend at the Rio Theatre. James Franco is known for a smorgasbord of TV shows and films, ranging from playing a stoner in the teen-comedy drama Freaks and Geeks and Pineapple Express with Vancouver's own Seth Rogen, to an Oscar nomination for his lead role in the 2011 survival drama 127 Hours, and playing Julia Roberts's temporary love interest in the self-discovery romance Eat, Pray, Love. Franco will hit Vancouver's historic the Rio Theatre for two nights in Desert Films, a live performance work starring himself and Blaine Kern in a cinematic storytelling series exploring the nature and cost of fame. Franco wrote, directed and will star in the play, and even created artwork for the production poster.

"The piece blends theatre and cinema in a striking exploration of fame, identity, and the shifting boundary between performance and reality," reads the event listing. The doors open at 7 p.m., and the shows are at 8 p.m. Tickets are $57.75 plus service charges. James Franco Vancouver: Movie introductions at the Rio Theatre On Friday (May 29), Franco will introduce a film he wrote, directed and stars in.

On Friday, the actor will introduce a special screening of his adaptation of Greg Sestero‘s best-selling memoir recounting "his wild experience making Tommy Wiseau‘s classic flop The Room: “The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made.” Franco's adaptation is called The Disaster Artist. The James Dean star will stick around late at the Rio on Saturday for another special screening of the film that inspired him to write the adaptation, The Room. "It’s the Citizen Kane of bad movies! And truly, truly, the best (trust) way to experience this “masterpiece” is in the dark, on the big screen, and with a packed audience of confused (and enthused!) lovers of director Wiseau’s bizarre cinematic oddity that has morphed into a pop-culture phenomenon," reads a write-up by Rio Theatre.

The doors open at 9:45 p.m., and the shows are at 10:15 p.m. Tickets are $16 plus service charges. "Hey Rio...it's James Franco," the actor says in a social media post. "I'm coming there on the 29th and 30th to do a play." View this post on Instagram