Although he’s already got a ridiculous amount of projects on his list (mostly books he’s bought the rights to, with an eye to direct), it seems James Franco thinks he’s got time for one more, as Deadline reports he’s signed up star in and produce an indie drama called The Stare, which has also cast Winona Ryder.
And unlike most of Franco’s projects, which he’s attached to with only a vague idea of when they might shoot, this one starts lensing on May 6th, with the actor slotting it in before he goes to work for Sam Raimi on Oz The Great And Powerful this summer.
The Stare centres on a troubled playwright (Winona Ryder) who is struggling with her latest production. She starts to have bizarre dreams and visions that she is being watched, and is uncertain if she’s losing her mind, or if others are plotting against her. James Franco will portray one of the actors in her new play.
Jay Anania – who is the head of the directing program at NYU’s graduate film school, and one of James Franco’s teachers – will direct from his own screenplay. It all sounds a bit Black Swan, especially as Winona Ryder was in that too, but presumably they’re very different film.