Now giving what many call his best screen performance yet in the harrowing '127 Hours,' James Franco certainly appears to be bolstering his cred in hopes of nabbing a best actor Oscar nomination (which would surely please those who felt the Academy overlooked his well-received supporting role opposite Sean Penn in 2008's 'Milk').

Franco, 32, recently sat down to film an interview about his career with 'Inside the Actors Studio' host James Lipton, for an episode airing next month. But before the discussion could get underway, a frenzy for limited seats in the audience caused a record number of hopefuls to be turned down by the show's organizers, according to a TMZ report.

Tickets had already sold out, when more than 250 professionals in the entertainment industry who sought "comp" seats were reportedly turned away -- a record for the Bravo series, which tapes in a university auditorium in lower Manhattan.

An 'Actor's Studio' insider was impressed with Franco's enthusiasm for his supporters: "James stayed another hour-and-a-half after the taping and talked to every single student and fan who wanted to talk....No one has done that since Paul Newman, the very first guest that ever appeared on the show."