AceShowbiz - James Franco gained a newfound respect for professional porn stars after he tried and failed to make his own saucy sex tape at the age of 19. The "Spider-Man" star admits he filmed his raunchy bedroom antics as a teenager but was less than impressed when he watched back the footage.

Franco, who has dated actress Ahna O'Reilly since 2006, now admits he commends adult movie stars for managing to look attractive and "really selling" sex. Speaking at Newsweek magazine's Oscar roundtable discussion, Franco says, "I think (as) anybody who has made a home sex tape knows, what feels best doesn't always look best. I remember when I was 19 doing that, and then watching it back and thinking, 'Oh, that looks horrible'."

"You have a lot of respect for those actors in pornography, because they are really not just doing it, they're really selling it. You understand what it's like to be intimate with someone, so you just kind of let yourself go over to that situation."