James Franco - Franco Explains General Hospital Role

Actor JAMES FRANCO has explained the real reason behind his decision to take a role on U.S. daytime soap opera GENERAL HOSPITAL - it was all part of a "performance art" experiment.

The Spider-Man star surprised his fans in October (09) by signing up as a mysterious new character on the long-running drama.

But Franco has now admitted his two-month stint on the series isn't a serious acting move.

He writes in the New York Times, "I have been obsessed with performance art for over a decade, so I decided to experiment with the form myself when I signed to appear on General Hospital as the bad-boy artist 'Franco, just Franco.' I disrupted the audience's suspension of belief, because I was going to be perceived as something that doesn't belong in the stylised world of soap operas.

"Everyone watching would see an actor they recognise, a real person in a made-up world. It would be about inserting myself in a familiar space in such a way that it becomes stranger than fiction. In performance art, the outcome is uncertain. If it all goes to plan, it will definitely be weird, but is it art?"