Exuberant students filled Moravian College’s Johnston Hall to spend “An Evening with James Franco.” The award-winning actor had been invited to the April 15 event by Moravian’s United Student Government (USG) and Moravian’s Activity Council (MAC).

Onstage with the veteran of television’s “Freaks and Geeks” and “James Dean,” as well as hit movies like “Spider-Man,” “Pineapple Express” and “Milk,” were two USG reps, Adam White and Giulianna Young. Each took turns asking Franco questions about the choices he made in his acting career and about his accomplishments as a scholar, published author and volunteer.

“What was your dream role?” Young asked Franco who revealed, “I wanted to play the poet Hart Crane … so I would sit around and wait for somebody to come along with a Hart Crane movie and cast me in it … and that wasn’t going to happen …”

When he later attended film school, Franco’s thesis film was about Hart Crane.

“If I want to do something, now I can. Whatever is required of me I can fill that role,” he said of the experience.

About “Palo Alto,” Franco’s collection of connected short stories, White asked, “What are you trying to show us as young people today?”

Franco replied, with this fictional account about life in his California hometown of Palo Alto, that “… like any novelist, I wanted to write about what it is to be human, what it is to fall in love, what it is to be hurt … how to find your identity.”

He said he liked writing about younger people because “… at that time of our lives, so much is changing, so much is new, everything feels very big … dramatic, … these are universal issues.”

When “Palo Alto” was to be made into a movie, Franco chose Gia Coppola to direct the film since he realized, “the book leans a little more from the male experience … she could bring in the female side of things.”

When asked, “How do you choose the projects to pursue?” Franco said “… when you are a young actor you’re just happy to get work …”

He continued, that when he started getting offers, “... it was a very scary place to be,” saying his choices were based on, “… what’s going to better your career …” This resulted in being in movies where Franco’s heart wasn’t in the work. Because of this, he didn’t trust the directors which made him “…a very bad collaborator.”

Working on “Pineapple Express” with his old friends Seth Rogan and Judd Apatow taught Franco, “… if you work with people that you trust, you will try things and be free …”

Now James Franco’s guiding principles are, “Do the movies you believe in and work with people you believe in.”

While fielding questions from members of the audience, Franco described how he had dropped out of the University of California, Los Angeles, to pursue an acting career, returning 10 years later to UCLA to earn an undergraduate degree. Since then, he has received master’s degrees from Columbia University, New York University, Brooklyn College, Warren Wilson College, and a Ph.D. in English from Yale. He is also a teacher.

When asked, “What is so compelling about learning?” he answered, “It is one of the most enjoyable things … being exposed to new things and inspiring things …”

Praising his teachers, he said “… when you have somebody that has more experience than you have, who has more knowledge … that is the best relationship you can have …” He also values the “purity of the academic environment.

“Education,” Franco acknowledged, “… enabled me to be a better actor and more of a team player …”

In response to a question about how he became involved with philanthropy, Franco related that while he had been dealing with his “… little secret period with depression, one of the things I did was I started volunteering … Kirsten Dunst from ‘Spiderman’ introduced me to this organization called Art of Elysium that works with underprivileged kids and kids from hospitals.

“Since then it just has become a big part of my life,” he continued. “It’s kind of the same thing as teaching, where it allows me to get out of myself … and it was one of the things that helped me get out of the dark place I was in.”

At the request of MAC Chair Bryan Frace, Franco autographed the Moravian College banner hanging behind him, to the delight of the audience, who then gave him a standing ovation.