James Franco is set to add another gay role to his resume.

An Oscar nominee last year for 127 Hours, Franco has attached himself to a feature film about controversial photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.

Mapplethorpe was known for his large-scale, highly stylized black and white portraits of nude men and of flowers. Some of his work was so homoerotic that it resulted in controversy and debates about public funding in the arts.

The Mapplethorpe film is one of 10 projects to receive grants through the Tribeca Film Institute’s 9th annual Tribeca All Access Program, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Franco has played several gay roles over the years based on actual people. He won a Golden Globe Award for playing James Dean in a 2001 television film, was Harvey Milk's lover Scott Smith in 2008's Milk, and portrayed poet Allen Ginsberg in the 2010 film Howl.

Mostly recently, Franco wrote, directed, produced and starred in The Broken Tower, a black and white docudrama about gay poet Hart Crane.