‘Preacher’ Initially Considered James Franco as Jesse Custer

Preacher had languished in development hell long enough for every actor to end up fancast in the title role at one point or another, but James Franco might seem a stretch, no matter how much range he shows in a given year. The attachment of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg to AMC’s Preacher changed that, but how close did Franco get to the role Dominic Cooper inevitably won?

As reported at /Film, director/executive producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg spoke at Comic-Con 2016 to reveal a few behind-the-scenes tidbits, notably that Franco was at least at one point under consideration for the title role of Jesse Custer. Certainly, one could note a comic resemblance, especially given Jesse’s longer hair on the page, but according to Rogen, initial consideration was as far as it got:

Goldberg: We had a nice conversation with James Franco at one point. He looks very Jesse-ish. He was into it but just literally he has to make 4,000 things in 20 different formats. It would take up his time and he wouldn’t be able to do a Tori Spelling movie or whatever the hell he was going to do.

Rogen: [Franco] was dangling from a crane in Venice at the time so he couldn’t work us in. I think that was even before, that was in a very preliminary phase.

Casting has proven among the stronger Preacher points, especially with regard to Ruth Negga and Joseph Gilgun, but could anyone envision Franco in the role? Watch the trailer for this coming Sunday’s season finale, and stay tuned for the latest.