James Franco Was Accidentally Near Scene Of Christopher Dorner Shootout

Sometimes life imitates art, and sometimes it just gets in its way.

James Franco told Jimmy Kimmel Wednesday night about his scary run-in with the pursuit of ex-LAPD cop Christopher Dorner as he taught his graduate film course for UCLA Tuesday, and we've got the clip right here for you on RadarOnline.com.

The 34-year-old Spider-man star said he took students on location to Big Bear, Calif. to make a student film, at the very same time police were closing in on the rogue former cop.

"In the film class, we make movies and I act in them. And then I get great actors (Natalie Portman, Kristen Wiig) to come be a part of the show," he said. "I was acting in one yesterday, in fact.

"We were…in Big Bear, like, five minutes from where all of that horrible stuff went down," he said, adding that "in the movie, I was driving a sheriff's car, too, so it was really weird.

"And there were SWAT team trucks going right by where we were shooting."

Kimmel joked the hostile environment must have saved serious production costs, but the one-time Oscar host said it wasn't even necessary for the shots he needed.

While James and his class remained safe, the end result in the rural area was far from that, as Dorner traded shots with police officers, killing one and injuring another, before he presumably perished in a cabin fire thereafter.

Watch the video on RadarOnline.com

Franco appeared to promote his upcoming movie Oz: The Great and Powerful, which hits theaters March 8.