Earlier this month, Gary Shteyngart made a hilarious, irreverent book trailer for his new novel, “Super Sad True Love Story,” where he played an illiterate hack whose success in the literary community was largely accidental.

The trailer starred James Franco, who is a student in Shteyngart’s writing seminar at Columbia (in real life). We asked Gary what it was like being James Franco’s teacher. But first he needed to explain why he and Lindsay Lohan are soul mates. (Hint: he claims he once painted “F**k U” on HIS fingernails–in Hebrew school.)

WATCH:

Shteyngart on Being LiLo’s Soul-mate:

Shteyngart on Being James Franco’s Teacher:

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