James Franco Gay? Talks About Movie Roles Questioning His Sexuality & Says 'A lot of the Figures That I Love Were Gay'

James Franco once again took on a project revolving around a central figure who is gay with the recent release of his directed biopic Sal.

The 35-year-old's tendency to do gay projects has caused many to speculate about his sexuality, and Franco does not deny it.

"Of course I'm for equal rights and will do whatever I can do to help make that happen," he told The Daily Beast. "But I feel like because I've done more gay characters, gay scenes, or gay projects than most straight actors, people see it as some sort of mission."

"It's more of a case-by-case basis, and just trying to capture figures that I love," he continued. "I guess that a lot of the figures that I love were gay."

Sal, which opened earlier in October, tells the story of outwardly gay actor Sal Mineo in his final day of life. Mineo was a child actor who won Oscars for his roles in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Exodus (1960), but saw his success decline in the 1960s as he grew older and his homosexuality kept him from securing movie roles.

Aside from the bipoic, Franco worked on storylines portraying gay people in projects including Milk, The Broken Tower and Howl.

"It's not like it's my mission to tell the stories of as many gay men as possible, although in some cases, I think it is the point," said the actor, who got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in March 2013.

"In Milk, the point is to show one of the great fighters for equal rights for the gay community, so I was happy to do that," he continued. "With characters like Allen Ginsberg [in Howl], my love for him started with his work when I was a teenager. So his sexuality is secondary to me. It's an important aspect of who he was and his character, but it wasn't like, 'Yes, I want to play another gay role,' it was more, 'Yes, I'd love to play another one of my heroes.'"

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Franco is an Oscar-nominated actor, a published author, a college professor, director, producer and editor.

He is currently single after splitting from girlfriend Ahna O'Reilly in 2011 after five years of dating. In October 2012, he denied rumors that he was dating his Spring Breakers co- stars Ashley Benson and Selena Gomez. In a blog post for The Huffington Post, he also claimed he never asked Twilight's Kristen Stewart out on a date