James Franco is getting into BDSM in the next couple of weeks with two sado-masochistic movies he’s made screening at Sundance, Interior Leather Bar and Kink. However it appears not everything he makes in the future will be about sado-masochism, as Deadline has revealed he’s set to direct and star in Beautiful People, a biopic of Jay Sebring.
If the name rings a bell, it’s because he was among the victims of the Manson Family when they invaded Roman Polanski’s house and killed Sharon Tate in 1969. However Beautiful People will also look at his life before that tragic night, chronicling his rise as a celebrity hairstylist, who became a ‘self-created mens grooming pioneer’. He created Jim Morrisons signature style, and Warren Beatty partly based his character in Shampoo on Sebring.
He had previously romanced Tate, and stayed close to her after she married Polanski – hence why he was there on the night the Manson family arrived.
Franco is a fairly good physical match for Sebring, so it should be a decent fit. Lauren Wild wrote the screenplay. It’s not clear when it might shoot.