James Franco is on the cover of the September 2008 GQ Magazine.

On making a few bad films: “I wanted to be the best actor that I could be. It’s just sad for me, because I know I worked so hard, and I just feel like in some way I kind of blew it. It’s just hard to get away from what I see as the stain of these bad movies.”

On not getting along with the cast of Freaks & Geeks: “I’ll admit I was not a team player. A lot of it, I think, just had to do with being obnoxious when the camera was on someone else. Maybe I’d eat a banana in the background that would take focus away from other actors. I didn’t think about it that way, but now I could say, ‘Look, the scene’s not about me, it’s about them, just chill out, James. Don’t eat a f—-ing banana.’ ”

On kissing costar Sean Penn in the movie Milk: “The first kiss of the movie was out on Haight Street, with, like, 200 people watching, outside. I’m sure in the end it will be a really cool shot, but it starts close and then it takes maybe a minute. That’s a long time on film with everybody watching, and, like, a fake moustache getting in your mouth. It was long enough that you couldn’t help but thinking, ‘Oh, my God, I’m kissing Spicoli.’”