James Franco adds Logan Marshall-Green, Danny McBride, and Ahna O'Reilly to 'As I Lay Dying'

Could James Franco's adaptation of William Faulkner's classic novel, As I Lay Dying, finally be the film that establishes him as a director worthy of attention? We've seen what he can do as a writer and director a handful of times already in tiny indie features and short films, all of which veer wildly from his mainstream persona. I mean...a biopic on the life of poet, Hart Crane? While The Broken Tower wasn't bad, nobody was going to rush out and see it.

As production on As I Lay Dying is set to begin in October, Franco is pulling together the cast, and he's rounded up some familiar faces. Danny McBride, who starred with Franco in Pineapple Express has joined the cast in an unspecified role. Tim Blake Nelson and Jim Parrack, both of whom worked with Franco on the Cormac McCarthy adaptation, Child of God, are also on board.  Also along for the ride are Franco's ex, Ahna O'Reilly, and Logan Marshall-Green, fresh off his breakout performance in Prometheus. Published in 1930, the darkly comic story follows the Bundren family as they attempt to fulfill the final wish of their matriarch to be buried in her native Jefferson, Mississippi.

I'm not sure Franco has any interest in making a movie that'll play in multiplexes, and it's unlikely As I Lay Dying would, either. It does show his continued willingness to stretch himself and take on projects many would find too daunting. [Showbiz411]