Chris O'Dowd thinks James Franco's ''handsome'' looks are the reason he gets into trouble.

The 36-year-old actor starred opposite the good-looking star, 37, in the Broadway production 'Of Mice and Men' and has admitted he became a big fan of his after meeting him.

Speaking to the Independent newspaper, he said: ''James is great. I think he's genuinely trying to do interesting things. Not everybody is. He takes a lot of flak for it, which I've never really understood. If he wasn't so handsome, I think he'd be celebrated much more.''

James hit the headlines last year after he ''hit on a teenage girl'' via Instagram and sent her a series of flirty texts after she caught his eye outside a theatre in New York City.

The hunk later apologised for trying to pursue the Scottish school student and admitted it was an honest mistake because he didn't know ''who was on the other end.''

He said at the time: ''I'm embarrassed, and I guess I'm just a model of how social media is tricky. It's the way that people meet each other today, but what I've learned - I guess because I'm new to it - you don't know who's on the other end. You get a feel for them. You don't know who you're talking to. I used bad judgment and I learned my lesson.''