James Franco Sets His Sights on Faulkner, McCarthy

1/06/2011 Posted by Admin

James Franco Sets His Sights on Faulkner, McCarthy

Movie News

By our guest blogger, Nick Hanover


Continuing his bid for world domination (or at least tyranny over all media), James Franco is said by showbiz411 to be in talks to direct William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying" from a screenplay Franco wrote himself. With his star on an epic rise thanks to an almost guaranteed Oscar nod for his role in Danny Boyle's "127 Hours" and his co-hosting role for the festivities with Anne Hathaway, Franco seems to think now is the perfect time to make audiences everywhere forget his ludicrous prior directorial efforts and focus instead on his newly lofty aspirations.

For those who aren't steeped in Southern Gothic literature, "As I Lay Dying" is one of Faulkner's most difficult texts, a self-described tour de force that the author supposedly wrote in true stream-of-consciousness style in a span of six weeks. How Franco plans to adapt the infamously difficult book, which features 15 narrators across 59 chapters, including one chapter which notably only features the phrase "My mother is a fish," is anyone's guess. There's probably a reason why the novel, which was published in 1930, has never been made into a film.

Of course, given Franco's other choice for adaptation it would seem the actor is purposefully seeking out difficult material. Looking to take over a project that was previously pursued by Todd Field and Ridley Scott, Franco is reportedly in talks with producer Scott Rudin about Cormac McCarthy's legendary "Blood Meridian." McCarthy's works have been adapted before, most recently with "The Road" and the Coen Brothers' excellent "No Country for Old Men," and before that with "All the Pretty Horses," Billy Bob Thornton's infamously harshly cut follow-up flop to "Sling Blade." But considering how many others have tried and failed with "Blood Meridian," it should be interesting to see how Franco fares, especially given his statements that it'll be in theaters by 2012.

For those keeping track at home, Franco is indeed taking on these projects while still enrolled at both Yale and the Rhode Island School of Design, as well as amidst a Broadway production of "Sweet Bird of Youth" and his small, independent project "The Broken Tower." There's also his role in the soon to be released David Gordon Green fantasy film "Your Highess," a starring turn in the "Planet of the Apes" reboot "Rise of the Apes," and his rumored part in serial killer bio pic "The Iceman." All of this gives further credence to my theory that Franco is, in fact, actually Multiple Man.

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