EXCLUSIVE: James Franco Calls Selena Gomez His 'Secret Weapon' After 'Maternal' Role in New Drama

James Franco gets candid about Selena Gomez and explains why he cast her in his new movie, In Dubious Battle, in a role like you've never seen Selena before. Why is it that she impresses you so much? I want to be a part of your world. I want to try it. I'm going to go on this adventure. And I kind of thought I felt like I had a secret weapon that I could put her in and she would nail it. And she did. All I want is just a simple clean life. How did you as a director help her channel her motherly instincts for a role like this? That birthing scene was something else. That was next level. I sort of knew that she did have those instincts. She's maternal in a lot of ways. And I just thought if we do this scene, I know Selena's just going to give everything for it. It was almost like a piece of performance art. We had multiple cameras. We were in there and we just like kept it going. We had a real nurse. We had a real baby. We had all this stuff. And we just kind of did it. All I see is danger.