James Franco thinks his 20-year friendship with Seth Rogen is ‘over’

James Franco And Set Rogen‘s friendship isn’t what it used to be.

“I haven’t spoken to Seth,” 46-year-old Franco said Variety in an interview published on Friday, October 25. “I love Seth, we had 20 great years together, but I think it’s over. And not for lack of trying. I told him how much he means to me.”

Rogen, 42, and Franco first met on the 1999 teen drama Freaks and nerds before finding success together on the big screen with films like Pineapple Express, This is the end And The disaster artist.

However, in 2018, Franco was accused of sexually inappropriate behavior by five women, four of whom are his acting students. Two of those former students filed a sexual misconduct lawsuit in 2019. Franco settled the lawsuit in 2021.

“While Defendants continue to deny the allegations in the Complaint, they acknowledge that Plaintiffs have raised important issues,” both parties said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter at the time “and all parties strongly believe that this is a critical time to focus on addressing the mistreatment of women in Hollywood.”

Although Rogen previously said he would continue working with Franco, he expressed a different view in recent interviews.

“The truth is, I have not worked with Franco at this time and I don’t intend to,” Rogen said The Sunday times in May 2021.

Seven months later, Franco responded to his former co-star’s words, saying his statement was true.

“We are not currently working together and we have no plans to work together,” Franco said on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show. “Of course it was painful, given the context, but I understand. He had to answer for me because I was quiet. He had to answer for me, and I don’t want that.”

“I love Seth Rogen. I worked with him for 20 years,” he continued. “We haven’t had a single fight for twenty years. Not one fight. He was my absolute best work friend, co-worker. We just gelled.”

Moving forward, Franco is grateful to have the opportunity to act in his new film again Hey Joe. In the drama, Franco plays an alcoholic American World War II vet who ends up in Naples in the early 1970s in search of a son he fathered there.

The film is Franco’s second film to be released since 2019.

“I had to change my whole way of life,” he said Variety. “So I’m proud of the kind of work I did during that time. And yes, I didn’t work in films, but I certainly did a lot of work to change who I was.

We weekly has reached out to Rogen’s team for comment on Franco’s latest interview.