James Franco is writing a book about Lana Del Rey 

James Franco is writing a book about Lana Del Rey

Sometimes the question about James Franco is whether he\'s an actor or is merely playing one, because he does many other things. He\'s written books -- including "Actors Anonymous" -- he\'s sung, and he\'s taught at New York University, Columbia and UCLA. In March, he\'ll release a book about Lana Del Rey. Take a look at some other celebs with side projects.

When they\'re not working their day jobs, many celebrities like to do something else on the side. Sometimes it\'s a creative outlet; other times, it\'s a full-fledged business. Actor Rob Lowe, still youthful at 51, launched Profile, a line of cosmetics for men.

Reese Witherspoon is a Southern girl to her core, and she returned to her roots with a new business venture. Her site, Draper James, sells clothes, purses and other merchandise with a Southern flair. Several items sold out within hours of its launch in May.

Singer-dancer-actor Beyonce added another hyphenate to her resume: purveyor of fine foods. Bey partnered with fitness pro Marco Borges to launch the 22 Day Nutrition vegan food delivery service.

When he\'s not appearing on "Parks and Recreation," Nick Offerman is an accomplished woodworker; he even has a collective devoted to the craft.

Jay Z is as famed for his business acumen as his rapping skills. He co-founded the Rocawear fashion empire, is a former minority owner of the NBA\'s Brooklyn Nets and even started a sports agency.

In 2008, Gwyneth Paltrow launched Goop, a weekly lifestyle newsletter, and she has written a few cookbooks.

Steve Martin escapes from acting in movies by performing as a bluegrass musician. He plays banjo -- sometimes with the Steep Canyon Rangers -- and even created the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are vintners, having produced a rosé from their 150 acres of vineyards at the Chateau Miraval in the south of France.

Director Francis Ford Coppola is also a winemaker. His Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Geyserville, California, has produced several highly rated vintages.

Bill Murray may often be pictured on golf courses, but he loves minor league baseball -- so much that he\'s part of the Goldklang Group, which owns the St. Paul (Minnesota) Saints and Charleston (South Carolina) RiverDogs among others. His RiverDogs title? Director of Fun.

Aunt Luddy\'s White Trash is a snack sold at Walton\'s Fancy and Staple, a gourmet deli and bakery in Austin, Texas, owned by actress Sandra Bullock.

Before he was a singer, Tony Bennett was a painter. He still is, and a successful one, too: His paintings sell for $10,000 or more. "When I\'m not painting, I often go up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue for inspiration, to see how the greats solved problems," he wrote in The Wall Street Journal. Here, Bennett presents a watercolor painting he did of Duke Ellington to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington in 2009.

Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley also paints. Stanley, who attended New York\'s High School of Music and Art, became serious about his painting in the last decade or so.

Marilyn Manson, another painter, opens an exhibition of his work at a Cologne, Germany, gallery in 2007.

Rapper 2 Chainz loves food and has shared recipes from his tour bus in a cookbook called "#Meal Time." In 2014, there was talk of the rapper running for mayor of College Park, Georgia.

As if he didn\'t have enough on his plate, what with singing and acting, Justin Timberlake also owns Myspace, one of the first breakout social networks. He bought a chunk in 2011 and took a larger role after News Corp. sold the site in 2012. Myspace relaunched in June 2013.

Ashton Kutcher is also active in the tech world. He was an early investor in Skype and continues to back startups through his venture capital firm, A-Grade Investments.

"Melrose Place" actor Andrew Shue has also made a name for himself in tech. He\'s one of the creators of the CafeMom site, ranked as one of the 1,000 most-trafficked sites in the world, according to the monitoring organization Alexa. Shue also created Do Something, a national nonprofit group.

Ed Begley Jr. is not only an environmentalist, he has a company, Begley\'s Best, that produces what it calls environmentally friendly products.

Willie Nelson is the founder of the brand BioWillie Biodiesel, a petroleum alternative made from vegetable oil and waste fats. It\'s been used to power the country star\'s tour bus.

Erykah Badu is known for her soulful sounds and personal style, but in 2011 she revealed that she\'d found another passion: helping moms deliver babies. A mother of three, Badu became a certified doula and was working toward her midwifery license.

Kevin Costner owns Ocean Therapy Solutions, a company that produces machines that separate oil and water. BP purchased several of the devices to help clean up the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill.

Jeremy Renner, right, might now be an Oscar-nominated actor, but before he hit it big he was a hugely successful house flipper. He and actor Kristoffer Winters haven\'t lost their touch: a property they bought for $7 million reportedly sold for $24 million in August 2013.

Alyssa Milano is a huge baseball fan and doesn\'t mind if everybody knows. She\'s written a book about her love for the sport, "Safe at Home," and has contributed columns and interviews to variety of media.

Drew Carey has a particular interest in Major League Soccer\'s Seattle Sounders. He owns a share of the team.

Franco wrote an essay/poem about the singer this year

Seriously, is there anything James Franco can\'t do?

You would think that being a famous actor and former Oscars host would be enough for Franco, who is well-known for his interesting professional moves, including college professor and soap opera actor.

But it looks like Franco is now returning to another one of his side gigs: author.

According to Penguin Random House\'s website, Franco has penned a book about his friend singer Lana Del Rey.

The art book "Flip-Side: Real and Imaginary Conversations with Lana Del Rey" reunites Franco with his former collaborator David Shields. Shields and Franco teamed up for the film "I Think You\'re Totally Wrong: A Quarrel," which Franco directed and Shields co-wrote with Caleb Powell.

In January, Franco wrote an essay/poem about Del Rey for V Magazine that was framed as a "poetic tribute to his muse and friend, Lana Del Rey, \'the Miami idol queen, gone to London and back for a triumphant Hendrix return.\' "

"Lana lives in her art, and when she comes down to earth for interviews, it gets messy, because she isn\'t made for this earth," he wrote. "She is made to live in the world she creates. She is one who has been so disappointed by life, she had to create her own world. Just let her live in it."

Franco is no newbie to the book world, having been praised for his fiction debut "Palo Alto," a collection of stories that was made into a film starring him and directed by Gia Coppola. His other works include "Actors Anonymous: A Novel" and a book of poems titled "Directing Herbert White."

"Flip-Side: Real and Imaginary Conversations with Lana Del Rey" will be published in March.

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