Say what you will about James Franco, the man knows how to put together an all-star team, as he’s done for his new starring/directorial effort Zeroville, which Screen Daily reports will feature supporting players the likes of Seth Rogen, Jacki Weaver, Megan Fox, Will Ferrell, Danny McBride, Dave Franco, Craig Robinson, Joey King and Horatio Sanz.
Zeroville is now shooting in California, as chronicled on Franco’s Instagram account featuring photos of Ferrell and Fox in character, and is based on the acclaimed 2007 novel of the same name by Steve Erickson. Franco will play Ike Jerome, a film-obsessed architecture student with images of Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift tattooed on his shaved head, who arrives in 1969-era Hollywood where he’s mistaken for a perpetrator in the Charles Manson murders. Ike travels through the sex and drug-filled world of that era, meeting important figures of the zeitgeist, including filmmakers like George Lucas, Brian De Palma, Steven Spielberg and Paul Schrader.
Franco’s frequent partner in crime Rogen will play “Viking Man,” described as an “eccentric, cigar-chomping, surf-hippy” who acts as a guide to Franco’s character, and is in fact based on maverick filmmaker John Milius, subject of last year’s excellent documentary Milius, which is available on Netflix Streaming. Fox will play femme-fatale character Soledad, Weaver will play a film editor who also acts as a mentor and friend to Francos character, while “Eastbound and Down” star Danny McBride plays a sinister financier.
Interestingly, Franco recently penned a piece for Vice magazine where he discusses his reading habits over the last year, which include the books “Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas” and Peter Biskind’s “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock ‘n’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood,” both of which revolve around the same subject matter as Zeroville. The kid’s done his homework.
