Franco has just worked with Australian filmmaker Travis Matthews, whose film I Want Your Love, was deemed too sexually explicit to be shown at either of the film festivals despite being shown at other film festivals around the world.

“I don’t think we would be having this conversation if he had made a very violent film,” Franco said in a message posted on YouTube.

“Travis is making this film and including sex because he wants to explore story and character and the nuances that sex contains," he added.

“And because films have been banned because of sex, sex in films hasn’t had a chance to grow and become a storytelling device.”

Franco and Matthews worked together on a short film, Interior.Leather.Bar, which re-imagined 40 minutes of footage which was deleted from director William Friedkin’s 1980 S&M movie, Cruising.

Photo: Getty.