Movies

James Franco's art and life are getting uncomfortably close ... 'cause the Time's Up movement is breathing down his neck on Sunset Blvd.

A new billboard recently went up in Hollywood for Franco's movie, "The Disaster Artist" -- which sits just in front of a Time's Up billboard no more than 100 yards away.

Unclear which one went up first -- it's awards season, though ... so movie promotions are popping up all over L.A. Either way, it's awkward placement.

As we reported ... Franco's been accused of sexual misconduct by at least 5 women. The accusations initially surfaced during the Golden Globes where the actor rocked a Time's Up pin.

He's now avoiding public events, such as last weekend's Critics' Choice Awards ... where he won for best actor.

The NAACP Image Awards brought out a ton of stars for the main show ... and just as many to the after-party.

Celebs like Anthony Anderson, Danny Glover, Issa Rae, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Caleb McLaughlin, Chadwick Boseman, Deon Cole and lots more showed up and showed out after the show ... all of whom were dressed to the nines.

As we reported ... Anthony roasted Tyrese during the opening monologue, making fun of his breakdown. And, of course, Halle Berry went commando earlier in the night, too.

"Call Me by Your Name" star Timothee Chalamet apparently wants to say something about Woody Allen, who just directed him in a film, but he's not allowed to say it so he's donating his salary to Time's Up.

Chalamet, who starred in Allen's upcoming film, "A Rainy Day in New York," took his cue from co-star Rebecca Hall, who also pledged her salary to Time's Up.

It's apparent the stars are creating distance from their director because of Allen's relationship with "stepdaughter" Soon-Yi whom he had a relationship with and later married, and also the allegations of sexual assault involving adopted daughter Dylan Farrow.

Here's what's interesting ... Chalamet said, "I have been asked in a few recent interviews about my decision to work on a film with Woody Allen last summer ... I'm not able to answer the question directly because of contractual obligations."

Translation ... there must be some sort of anti-disparagement clause in his contract. Chalamet does not say whether he was familiar with the Dylan Farrow and Soon-Yi stories when he accepted the role.

He wrote, "I don't want to profit from my work on the film."

He's donating his salary to Time's Up, the LGBT Center in New York and RAINN, saying, "I want to be worthy of standing shoulder to shoulder with the brave artists who are fighting for all people to be treated with the respect and dignity they deserve."

Anthony Anderson was hilarious at the NAACP Image Awards Monday night, taking unmerciful jabs at Tyrese for his crying fits during his recent custody battle.

Anderson started out solemn ... making it seem like he had sympathy for Tyrese, and then he shifted gears and unleashed some wicked jokes.

Sen. Kamala Harris made the most of her Grand Marshal title at Kindom Day Parade in L.A. by getting up close and personal with the bands ... and the Senator was getting it.

The junior senator from Cali did a little -- emphasis on little -- dancing when a drum corps started doing their thing Monday during the parade. Natalie Portman was hanging with Sen. Harris much of the day, and recorded her moves.

Kamala and Natalie also joined in for a "TIME'S UP" chant during the 33rd annual parade.

In a race against a horse, who'd win -- the horse or Chris Pratt?

If you guessed the horse and not the guy who plays Star-Lord in "Guardians of the Galaxy," then you're probably right -- but that didn't stop Pratt from sizing up a horse while filming an extensive workout scene Sunday in LA.

Dakota Johnson and Chris Martin are going public -- the new couple strolled on the beach over the weekend, packed on some PDA and, for good measure ... hung out with Kenny G.

Chris and Dakota have been dating for a few months, but previously took great measures to keep it private. That all changed Sunday in Malibu ... where the "Fifty Shades of Grey" star and Chris looked inseparable.

They had some unexpected company on the beach when Kenny G popped up, sadly without his saxophone. So, no Coldplay-Kenny G collab.

That Dakota's a lucky woman.

6:18 PM PT -- Aziz has responded saying he believed the sexual activity he engaged in with the anonymous woman was completely consensual. He says the day after the incident he got a text from her saying, "it may have seemed okay" but, after further reflection she felt uncomfortable. He says, "It was true that everything did seem okay to me, so when I heard that it was not the case for her, I was surprised and concerned."

Aziz says he "took her words to heart and responded privately." He says he continues to support the #MeToo and Time's Up movements as well.

Aziz Ansari has been accused of sexual assault by a woman who claims he repeatedly got sexually aggressive with her despite her protestations.

The woman -- who remains anonymous -- claims she went on a date with him last year and ended up in his Tribeca apartment. She claims he almost immediately began kissing, fondling and undressing her and then said he was going to grab a condom. The woman says she asked him to slow down, but he continued and performed oral sex on her.

She says when he started sticking his fingers in her throat, she used "verbal and non-verbal cues" to indicate her discomfort.

The woman says she doesn't know if Ansari got the message at first, but when it eventually registered, she says he told her, "Of course, it's only fun if we're both having fun."

Still, she says Ansari continued to push himself on her. She says she eventually left in tears.

The woman, who first told her story to Babe.net, texted Ansari the next day, "Last night might have been fun for you it wasn't for me. When we got back to your place, you ignored clear, non-verbal cues; you kept going with advances. You had to have noticed I was uncomfortable." She then described part of the encounter.

The woman says she decided to come forward after she saw Ansari wearing a Time's Up pin at the Golden Globes, where he won Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy TV Series for his lead role on "Master of None."

Nancy Grace wants the courts to show Harvey Weinstein no mercy ... but she has grave reservations that will ever happen.

Nancy arrived at LAX late Saturday when our photog asked about Weinstein. Listen carefully ... she says on the one hand he should end up in a tough prison environment IF the allegations against him prove true. But then she suggest there's no way the allegations aren't true given the number of woman who have come forward.

Weinstein has maintained all of the sexual encounters in question were consensual.

Diana Ross seemed more than happy to return to L.A. after enduring Saturday's Hawaiian scare.

Our photog caught up with the legendary singer at LAX Saturday and Diana clearly had the same reaction as everyone on the islands ... blind fear.

She had been vacationing in Hawaii and the hotel staff corralled the guests and took them underground.

Tom Cruise doesn't give up easily ... he got back on the horse after getting badly injured during a "Mission: Impossible 6" stunt.

Tom went back to the scene of the crime .... jumping out of a high window and running across the glass roof of the Blackfriars Train Station in London, trying to jump from building to building. Back in August he failed, falling short and hitting the building on the other side. Cruise limped away and collapsed. He suffered a broken ankle.

We don't have pics of the completion of the jump, but it appears he made it.

James Franco is facing 4 sexual misconduct complaints from some of his former acting students at Studio 4 and Playhouse West, so we decided to call around and see if anyone lodged complaints at the various schools where the actor taught, and it turns out there were none.

Franco taught classes at NYU in 2011 and 2012 ... an NYU administration source tells TMZ there were neither formal nor informal complaints against him.

We also checked with USC, where Franco taught various classes from 2013 and 2015 and a rep for the school tells us ... no complaints.

And we contacted UCLA, where Franco taught from 2012 to 2017. No one from the school would give us an official comment, but sources at the school who would have received such complaints tell us none were lodged.

The fact that no complaints were filed does not mean nothing ever happened. As we've reported, Franco has maintained he has done nothing wrong.

Mark Wahlberg wants to direct the movie based on Caron Butler's life ... and guess who's super stoked to hear that??

CARON BUTLER!!

TMZ Sports spoke with Tuff Juice about Marky Mark wanting to tackle Butler's story of a drug dealing childhood to becoming an NBA All-Star in his directorial debut ... and he says it's a dream come true.

Butler says Wahlberg is his top choice to direct the flick ... even with HUGE names like Peter Berg and Spike Lee being interested in joining the project.

One of James Franco's accusers is willing to forgive him if he publicly owns up to the sexual misconduct she says she experienced on a movie set.

Sarah Tither-Kaplan tells TMZ, "I don't hate James. I still have love for him." She's reacting to Franco's Critics' Choice Awards victory Thursday night ... a ceremony he skipped because, as we first reported ... he's despondent over multiple allegations against him.

Sarah says she doesn't begrudge Franco's success, and, in fact, says she would've been shocked if he didn't win -- but adds he still needs to accept responsibility and apologize. In fact, she believes he'll be totally forgiven if he does.

You'll recall, she accused Franco of exploiting her for nude scenes in a movie, and also of removing genital guards off other actresses -- not her -- during an orgy scene in the film.

LAPD detectives will be sitting down with the L.A. County District Attorney next month to go over a huge number of files involving alleged sexual misconduct ... and there are 3 famous people who will be at the top of the pile based on the number of complaints ... Harvey Weinstein, James Toback and Brett Ratner.

Sources familiar with the investigation tell TMZ the LAPD's Sexual Assault Section is now "winding down" its investigation, but there are still some interviews that have not been conducted and reports to write.

One law enforcement source tells us detectives are stunned that they were able to get statements from some of the people accused of sexual misconduct. Turns out early on -- before some of the suspects got criminal defense lawyers -- their entertainment lawyers drafted statements signed by their clients denying the claims.

One law enforcement source put it this way ... "These [entertainment] lawyers cared more about image than jail. They should have never let their clients talk."

That said ... our sources reiterate most of the cases involve 1 on 1 situations ... meaning there are only 2 people involved and without witnesses these cases are hard to prosecute.

It was a timeline of Lohans Thursday night in NYC as three generations -- Lindsay Lohan, her mother Dina, and her grandma -- all filed out of a birthday dinner.

The Lo ladies were celebrating grandma's 94th birthday at Sant Ambroeus. Lindsay's bro, Dakota, and sister Ali were also there, but we gotta say ... grandma Sullivan is the star here. She's a spry 94!

Btw, LiLo's lobbying hard for the title role in the upcoming "Batgirl" film, and seemed optimistic when we asked her about it, despite some less than positive reactions on Twitter.