After writing books, teaching at NYU, taking classes at Columbia, hosting Saturday Night Live and, oh yeah, acting in movies, James Franco might have found his true calling:

Making a documentary about smut.

Because those who can't do teach (or make documentaries), apparently. He told Conan O'Brien (via Huffington Post) that after another failed sideline — actually making porn — he decided to take a look at one facet of the industry instead:

I got a video camera and my girlfriend and I decided to film ourselves. We watched it back and said, 'yeah, well, let's never watch that again. Those people in pornos, they are great performers. They're not just doing it, they're selling it to an audience.

(Porn aficionado is the new foodie. Discuss).

Anyway, Franco says he's turning his scattered talents toward directing a doc about San Francisco's Kink.com (NSFW), a repository of whips, chains and latex.

Have fun, James. Just don't forget what pays the bills (hint: It's not making porn docs or teaching poetry).

[@dennisjromero/djromero@laweekly.com]

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