If there is one word to describe Tyrese Gibson, it's blunt. The up-and-coming actor says his new flick "Annapolis" is "hand's down, the most difficult movie I've ever worked on." And it's not because his role as a former Marine turned naval officer candidate was a stretch or that the required boxing training was too rigorous. It was, he says, because of the ugly tension on the set between himself and co-star James Franco.

"You go into a film project and you hope to get along with everybody," he says. "You hope to have good energy even if you have people on the set that you're not supposed to get along with in the movie. But, it just don't happen like that."

It seems Franco's insistence on using method acting got in the way. The technique usually involves an actor staying in his or her character even when the camera stops rolling. As a superior officer intent on giving Franco's character a tough time at the U.S. Naval Academy, Gibson admits he's the "bad guy" in the movie. Eventually, the two rivals face off against each other in a dramatic boxing fight during the school's annual tournament. Unfortunately, Franco's method technique spilled into their sparring matches. The New York Daily News reported that at one point the two actors got into fisticuffs and had to be separated, and production was halted for the day. When asked to confirm the story, Gibson became surprisingly shy, responding with a wry smile and a "no comment."

And yet, the actor doesn't blame all of the drama on Franco.

"I'm a contributor to the tension," he admits. "It is one of those situations you get into. There are some people that come around you and bring the animal out of y'all. And you get so far out of character that when you actually think about what you said or what you did or how you reacted...you can't even believe it yourself."

Still, even though the movie was shot over a year ago, Franco waited until the movie's recent press junket to apologize for his behavior. Gibson has no problems talking about past history (to a point obviously), but the 27-year-old is much more interested in discussing his new reality show: "The Making of a C.E.O."

The "Four Brothers" star has ambitious goals beyond the movie business and has recently formed a multimedia production company to produce music, movies and TV shows. Gibson hopes "Making" will chronicle his journey to become the next Jay-Z or Sean Combs.

"Basically, my mentality for 2006 is figuring out a way to own as much of me as possible," Gibson says. "It's a lot going on."

Just don't expect James Franco to be invited to the wrap party.

"Annapolis" opens nationwide on Jan. 27.