As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner is widely regarded as one of the great American novels, but it hasn’t been adapted by Hollywood yet, until now. James Franco has directed the film version of the tale, which will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
The trailer hit the web this week. As I Lay Dying is about a family traveling to bury their matriarch’s body. Faulkner wrote the novel from various perspectives, with each member of the family telling their side of the story to move the plot forward in a stream of consciousness style. It will be intriguing to see how Franco handles that aspect and we’ll be waiting for reviews out of Cannes. The film is playing in the Un Certain Regard section.
According to HitFix, Franco has enlisted fine actors like Danny McBride and Tim Blake Nelson. Other castmembers include Beth Grant, Ahna O’Reilly and Logan Marshall-Green.
The next time American audiences see Franco on the big screen will be in This Is The End, which opens on June 12 and also features McBride.
Here’s the trailer for As I Lay Dying:
image: YouTube/trailer