Between his acting career, university studies and vast array of other artistic ventures, multi-hyphenate James Franco has made several directorial efforts in recent months, including a film about actor Sal Mineo, an 'SNL' documentary, and the upcoming "Francophrenia" premiering in Rotterdam. He's also got some ambitious feature efforts in the works including an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" and William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying." But before he follows through with any of those, Franco has his Hart Crane biopic "The Broken Tower" ready for your eyeballs.
Based on the biography by Paul L. Mariani, and co-starring regular collaborator Michael Shannon and brother Dave Franco, among others, the first teaser for the film has now been unveiled, and exhibiting a truly artistic work from Franco that seemingly personifies all of his diverse interests. The film debuted at the L.A. Film Festival to a mixed response with one reviewer comparing the film to "the qualities of an unfinished thesis project, more document of discovery than cinematic achievement. Regardless of what Franco thinks, it's not slowness that holds it down, but rather its overly ponderous nature, a trait only truly appealing to those with the same existing appreciation for Crane that Franco has." Ouch.
That said, we're fairly interested to see how Franco fares behind the camera considering how ambitious his directorial slate already is. "The Broken Tower" is available for digital download and On Demand right now, and will hit DVD on March 27th.