James Franco Doubles Down in HBO’s Pre-AIDS Epic, “The Deuce”

Writer and producer David Simon, who co-created such prestigious show as The Wire, Homicide, Generation Kill and Treme, returns to HBO September 10 with The Deuce. The new series is set in and around the Times Square of the 1970s, and explores thorny, interconnected period themes including the rise of the local porn industry, the explosion of the era’s drug epidemic and the arrival of HIV. The series features James Franco in a dual role — playing twin brothers Vincent and Frankie Martino and other notable cast members, including the always-impressive Maggie Gyllenhaal and The Karate Kid himself, Ralph Macchio. The Deuce will then follow this motley crew of mobsters, sex workers and law enforcement through to the mid-1980s as porn becomes a billion dollar industry. hbo.com

Franco, of course, is no stranger to any of these climes. He’s played both sides of the sexual identity mirror (most notably playing gay as Harvey Milk’s lover in Milk) and done his share of time travel as a man who slips in and out of the past hoping to prevent President Kennedy’s ill-fated visit to Dallas ending in murder in 11.22.63.