James Franco's gay porn flick a hit at Tribeca

Christian Slater is singing the praises of his King Cobra co-star James Franco for triumphantly avoiding "stereotypical nonsense" in their new gay porn drama.

King Cobra debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on Saturday (16Apr16) to much acclaim for the innovative approach to very challenging subject matter.

The crime drama's plot, which was inspired by a true story, centers around the brutal murder of Slater's gay porn producer character Stephen and the 46 year old star believes the cast pulled off the out-of-the-box script by their commitment to portraying their personas with deep authenticity.

“I’ve never played a homosexual before and I just didn’t want to, I guess, bring any stereotypical nonsense to it, or do any kind of caricature-y type things that I’ve seen in other films," Slater tells Variety. "I just wanted to be a human being who happens to like young men."

“I remember when I saw Brokeback Mountain and I had such a visceral reaction to that movie, and thought, ‘Oh my god, I could never do anything like that.'," he adds. "And as I’ve gotten older, I think I have gotten less judgmental about things and hopefully a little bit more mature about these subject matters."

Slater's co-star Franco, who plays a murderer from a rival gay porn production company in the movie, agrees with his castmate, noting director Justin Kelly kept them aware of the potential for their characters to become caricatures throughout the filming process.

“We could go pretty large with our characters, they are pretty ridiculous,” Franco notes. “Justin Kelly calls them G.T.L. — gym, tan, laundry — kind of guys. That’s all they do, go to the gym, tan, and do their laundry.”

Although the great acting challenge inspired Slater and Franco to join the cast, actress Molly Ringwald signed up to the feature for entirely different reasons.

“I was just happy to be in a movie where all the guys had to take off their clothes," she laughed.

King Cobra's cast boasts an impressive mix of veteran actors and newcomers, as Alicia Silverstone, Keegan Allen and Garrett Clayton are also on board.