James Franco Shares Alleged ‘Alien’ Video, Convincing No One: What to Know

Picture, if you can, the following scenario: James Franco—yes, that James Franco—is milling about his home and gets the urge to enjoy some painting in his garage. He then encounters a purported extraterrestrial, only to then head to TikTok to tease footage of the alleged life-form like it’s an album drop.

Hard to believe, right? Well, you’re not alone. Though certainly not an impossible scenario to imagine, especially given that there has been no shortage of noteworthy developments in the UAP space in recent years, Franco’s purported “alien” footage has largely been met with assumptions that this is all part of a movie-promoting stunt and/or a more generalized trolling effort in the vein of Franco’s past dalliances with performance art.

Below, notably while taking the position that aliens are almost certainly real though this particular claim isn’t exactly a shining example of veracity, we take a closer look.

James Franco shares dubious footage he claims shows an “alien”

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On Monday (July 13), Franco, whose pop culture ubiquity dramatically changed shape in the wake of sexual misconduct accusations in the late 2010s, shared footage to TikTok that he claims shows the purported alien in question.

“I didn’t choose this,” Franco said before opening a laptop and pressing play. “It was thrust upon me. I saw something, and I thought, you know what? I can’t keep this quiet. People have said I’m crazy. … I’ve been through a lot. My account got hacked twice. Twice. People trying to shut me down so that I don’t get this out, okay? But I need to get this out, for that very reason that people are trying to stop me.”

Franco continued: “For that very reason, I fought to get the account back. … I felt like I owed it to you, to the people that are following me and are trusting that I, in fact, have material behind what I’m saying, right? I’m putting my money where my mouth is or whatever. Okay, enough. Here we go. 7/13. You wanted it, here it is. I delivered.”

The footage shows a classic alien-resembling figure creeping through what appears to be a wooded area, later opening a door and peering through a window. Text at the end of the video promises “a lot more footage” will be released soon. As of this writing, two other recent videos are tucked away behind a paywall.

Reactions, expectedly, were swift, with the overwhelming majority of them focusing on theories that Franco is more or less pulling a fast one here, perhaps to promote the upcoming film Love Meets in the Sunshine. Skeptics have also pointed out elements of Franco’s video that they suggest point to it being surreptitiously edited.

James Franco asserts “this is not a hoax”

The Oscar-nominated actor, to be clear, has been utilizing TikTok in a similar fashion for some time now. The oldest video currently listed on the @jamesfranco2319 page is from June 3.

Later that same month, in a video captioned “It’s an ALIEN!!!,” Franco asserted that “this is not a hoax” despite widespread speculation.

“I think it’s an alien,” he said at the time. “An alien, okay? I’m saying it: an alien. … I guess my weapon is the camera. Proof, expose. I don’t know what’s gonna happen but I’m gonna do it. I’m not crazy. I’m gonna show you.”

In another video shared the same day, Franco recalled what he claimed was his first encounter with this purported “alien,” saying he was walking into his garage to paint one night when he “heard something” that he initially assumed was an animal.

“I saw glowing eyes and a hand,” he claimed. “I don’t know how many fingers.”

Director of upcoming James Franco movie disputes speculation this is all just promo

Christian Guiton, director of the aforementioned Love Meets in the Sunshine, starring Franco, claimed in a TikTok video of his own on June 20 that he has “nothing to do with this.” He also urged those reaching out to him about Franco’s headlined TikTokery to “stop attacking” him, as he (allegedly) only knew as much as the general public.

“Let’s just wait and see what he has, if he has anything,” Guiton said at the time. “I don’t know. He could pull up on 7/13 and show us a Pop-Tart. I don’t know. So, if he does, don’t get mad at me.”

In a video this week shared after Franco’s 7/13 unveiling, Guiton said he had visited Franco at his home, where he was shown additional purported footage, with a Pop-Tart, presumably, ultimately not being involved.

“If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, the extra footage that he has, I wouldn’t believe it,” he said.

Worth pointing out here is that, of the three accounts Franco follows on TikTok, one of them is Guiton and another is the official Love Meets in the Sunshine page.

Complex has reached out to reps for Franco for comment.