James Franco candidly discussed what he has gone through before reaching this point in his life and career. In the accompanying interview of his OUT magazine cover, the actor and filmmaker confessed that he fell into the world of addictions right before he started acting at the age of 17.

Of battling depression and addiction

His Addictive Personality, however, had positively influenced his attitude towards work when he entered the entertainment industry in 1997. The "Spring Breakers" alum explained this character has helped him focus on his craft as a young actor who later grew into becoming a fine a man in the acting industry.

"I really threw myself into it, and that became everything, to the point where I didn’t even socialize," he told the magazine.

James Franco later realized that his lifestyle had taken its toll on him despite all the fame and attention he was getting after his first ten years in the industry. "I realized, "Man, I’m so depressed. On the surface my life seems pretty good—I have a career and everything—but I feel isolated and lonely." So then I threw myself into school," the actor continued.

Although he will always have this addictive personality, the 39-year-old actor and filmmaker is slowly learning to loosen up his attitude towards his work. In fact, james franco has started learning to surf as part of his therapy to overcome his work addiction.

Franco talks about directing new HBO series

But for this year alone, the "127 Hours" alum has added 14 projects on his credits including "The Deuce" which will premiere on September 10 on HBO. When he was asked about the period drama, James Franco said that the project was personally introduced to him by David Simon during a meeting three years ago.

Unlike other TV series that features explicit scenes, James Franco explained that David Simon's is more focused on presenting realistic sex. "If you make it as real as possible, if you’re not stylizing it, you can show the sex, you can show all the actual stuff because you’re showing what happened," he added.

Aside from being a series regular on the HBO series, James Franco is also an executive producer who was in charge of directing episodes three and seven.

He also recalled how he directed sex scenes and thought that it was an interesting experience.

The award-winning actor went on to praise Maggie Gyllenhaal for doing a great job in handling herself and co-actors while filming the explicit scenes. James Franco added that the actress has made it easy for him to get the job done.