James Franco Will Return To Acting In The Post-WWII Movie “Me, You”
Operation Replace James Franco With His Brother Dave worked for a while, but has been ultimately unsuccessful. According to The Hollywood Reporter, James Franco is poised to make his big-screen comeback after his star-unmaking turn in Four Years a Canceled. James is set to star in a “post-World War II coming-of-age drama” called Me, You by Danish director Bille August alongside Brits Tom HollandER (not to be confused with Mr. Zendaya) and Daisy Jacob. The film is set on the Italian island of Ischia off the coast of Naples and is set to begin filming, on location, in September. This is great timing for James as Kevin Spacey was unable to commit due his busy legal calendar.
In the 4 years since James said #WaitMeToo? to the #MeToo movement, he’s agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle the class-action lawsuit filed against him by former students of his Playhouse West Studio 4 acting school who claimed he coerced them into filming sexually explicit scenes in exchange for employment opportunities, and claimed in an interview to have addressed his issues with sex addiction. Now that he’s cleared those critical accountability hurdles, he’s apparently good to go! THR reports:
James Franco is stepping up his acting comeback and will play one of the lead roles in Danish director Bille August’s post-World War II coming-of-age drama Me, You, adapted from the novel Tu, Mia by Erri De Luca.
Set in Ischia in the 1950s, Me, You focuses on 16-year-old Marco, who spends his days “sailing in the tranquil waters of the bay of Naples with hardened fisherman Nicola,” played by Franco, “who beguiles Marco with his wounded tales of the sea and the war following his military service as a U.S. GI,” according to a plot description. “Shy and curious, Marco sets out to experience all that his enchanting new surroundings, so far removed from his native London and gloomy Scottish boarding school, have to offer.”
Directed by August (Pelle the Conqueror, The Best Intentions), with a screenplay written by Greg Latter (Goodbye Bafana), Me, You is produced by Brilliant Pictures’ Sean O’Kelly (Iron Sky) and Marc Bikindou (Black Dahlia, Deception), Cristaldi Pics’ Mark Hammond (The Traitor), together with Jad Ben Ammar and Leo Maidenberg (Deep Fear, Sisters in Arms) who are on board as co-producers.
“I am excited to board this phenomenal project and to be working with the legendary Bille August,” said Franco. “I’m a huge fan of his work, and Me, You is a truly brilliant script.”
So, Call Me by Your Name meets The Lighthouse. Got it. Rusty as James is, I’m having a hard time picturing James pulling off a beguiling, hardened fisherman but maybe he can do some of his patented Studio 4 acting exercises and sail out into the sea in a tiny dingy, totally nude, and film himself while shouting “#MEYOU!” into the wind until he’s raw, chapped and sunburnt to a crisp, just to brush off the cobwebs.
Pic: Maurizio D’Avanzo/IPA/INSTARimag