James Franco gets carved for the sake of art

Los Angeles: Hollywood heartthrob James Franco has turned himself into art work to pay tribute to Hollywood icon James Dean.

The Oscar nominated actor who shot to fame playing the `Rebel Without A Cause` star in a 2001 TV bio-pic, got a body carving dedicated to his `Deuces Wild` co-star Brad Renfro, as part of the exhibition in Venice Biennale. The 33-year-old got Renfro`s name carved into his right arm with a switchblade, documenting the process in photography and film, reported Los Angeles Times online. Renfro, who died in 2008 at the age of 25 of a heroin overdose, reprised the character played by Sal Mineo in the original film. Franco, who had a hand in the other artists` projects, says that the carving itself could be seen as one of the show`s more permanent artworks. This isn`t the only Dean-related project coming up for Franco as he is getting ready to direct a biopic of Mineo. PTI