James Franco has directed a few film, but they’ve generally been so indie you could be forgiven for never having seen one. Now he’s taken on one that may get a slightly larger audience, taking on Cormac McCarthy’s Child Of God. Now the first teaser trailer has arrived.

Here’s TIFF’s synopsis: ‘Lester Ballard (Scott Haze, spitting and scratching at himself) is an abandoned soul, unable to fit into the established social order. As he increasingly withdraws into his own mind, he turns to violence and, ultimately, necrophilic relationships, looking for solace in a world that continually rejects him. The town sheriff (indelibly portrayed by Jim Parrack), both sympathetic to and fearful of the man, slowly closes the net around him — but a mob of townfolk have ideas of their own. Here the frame of the film turns, exposing a society where politesse is only a fingernail scratch away from pure hate and greed. ‘

The novel deals a lot with sexual deviancy including necrophilia and paedophilia, which doesn’t exactly sounds a barrel of laughs, but perhaps Franco can make it work. The film will make its world premiere this Saturday at the 70th annual Venice Film Festival, and it will also screen at TIFF next month. [Read more…]