Henry Cavill has become one of the biggest faces in Hollywood over the last decade. He played Superman in DC's Man of Steel and Justice League films, as well as playing Geralt in Netflix's The Witcher TV series.
Meanwhile, James Franco has been on the decline. He's gone in the opposite direction of Cavill, as at one point in time, he just may have been the biggest actor in Hollywood. Despite recent appearances in hit films such as The Interview and The Disaster Artist, Franco's career has fallen off sharply. This has been due to a few scandals and problems in Jame's personal life, so much so that he quit acting and filmmaking for a few years.
Because Cavill and Franco typically star in different films and have trended at different times, not many fans have thought much about their relationship with each other. This is despite the fact that they actually appeared in a movie once together, 20th Century Fox's Tristan & Isolde. They even had a subtle beef with each other - here's everything to know.
Why Did Tristan & Isolde Flop?
By the time 2006 rolled around, James was an A-list movie star who had appeared in Sam Raimi's Spider-man films, as well as the hit indie series Freaks and Geeks. Cavill on the hand was still a rising star, with only smaller projects under his belt.
Tristan & Isolde could have been Henry's breakout film, but instead, it was a huge dud. There's a lot of interesting information regarding this movie, and the background of the film had a lot of juicy details.
For instance, the movie was produced by legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott. According to Newsweek, Scott had been trying to make the film since the 1970s.
Sophia Myles and Mark Strong starred in the film as well, years before they would break out in other roles.
The movie has been compared to Zach Snyder's 300 film about the Spartans, despite being released over a year before 300. The two films are historically based, while also featuring a healthy mix of action and romance. The main actors of both films went through rigorous body training, with Gerard Butler nearly ruining his body because of the insane exercises.
While Tristan & Isolde may have had a lot of potential, it fell flat on its face, to say the least.
James once called the film a "big mistake". According to Box Office Mojo, the film only made $28 million in contrast to its $31 million budget.
The movie also had mixed reviews, averaging a mere 49% on Metacritic. Roger Ebert gave the film 3 stars out of 5, reflecting the sentiment of the typical moviegoer. Perhaps the negative reviews stemmed from a lack of chemistry between Cavill and Franco.
Why Did Henry Cavill And James Franco Have Beef While Making Tristan & Isolde?
The only thing explicitly said about this beef came from Franco himself. When Man of Steel came out back in 2013. James actually wrote a review for Vice. He was seen attending the premiere of the film and gave the movie a pretty good review. However, he also confessed about his strained relationship with Cavill.
Franco stated that Henry didn't like him "too much". James then believed that perhaps it was because he was a young, fiery actor who was immensely successful at the time. Naturally, he was a bit hard to work with.
Henry Cavill attends a press conference for Justice League
While Cavill may have been way less known than Franco when working on Tristan & Isolde, he's definitely the more popular actor nowadays. Franco even insisted on this in his review, claiming that Cavill's take on Superman was "larger than life", and much more important than Franco's role as Harry Osborn.
Unfortunately, Cavill's time as Superman has come to an end. Henry once claimed he had "no interest" in playing Superman again, and he doesn't appear to be in DC Studio's upcoming plans. Despite also leaving The Witcher, he will appear in Season 3, his grand exit from the show. Netflix recently released a trailer confirming Cavill's return.
Are Henry Cavill And James Francos Friends Now, Or Do They Still Have Beef With Each Other?
It's unclear where Henry Cavill and James Franco's relationship stands with each other. Maybe after Henry heard about what James said, he reached out to him to reconcile things. However, neither actor has commented on their weird beef since James' Vice review was published.
Part of that has to be because of what James has been through recently. Franco has been through quite the wringer the last few years. He had to fire his manager because he allegedly stole funds from Franco.
In addition to that, James was infamously canceled back in 2018. Years before that, he initially got in trouble for a relationship with a much younger woman. According to Business Insider, James messaged her on Instagram and was publicly exposed.
Things really snowballed for James in 2018. According to Rolling Stone, James wore a pin supporting the #MeToo movement to the 2018 Golden Globe Awards show. A number of actresses and other women tweeted out their stories involving James. Some of which were seen as downright sinister. The Los Angeles Times then reported that 5 female students of Jame's private film school alleged that Franco had taken advantage of them and misused his authority.
According to The New York Times, some of these students took James to court over those claims. In 2021, 2 of those students dropped their claims.
Not only have these allegations affected Jame's career, but they've also affected his friendship with Seth Rogen. Seth announced in an interview with Deadline that he doesn't speak to or work with Franco anymore, and that he has no plans on doing so in the future.
James did disappear from the limelight for a few years, but he has crawled out of the woodwork recently. One public appearance was when he recently attended an apparel launch party with his girlfriend Izabel Pakzad.
