New Poster for NYU Project 'Tar' starring James Franco, Jessica Chastain, and Mila Kunis

James Franco's rather ambitious forays into filmmaking have been a pleasurable curiosity to watch over the last couple of years. To his credit, he's been willing to undertake challenging films that more experienced directors have either balked at or outright failed at. We can argue about how successful he's been, but his enthusiasm is infectious, and he's taken to sharing that with those following in his footsteps. Last year we learned Franco was heading up a pair of projects by NYU film students, one of which was Tar, an anthology based on the collection of poems by Pulitzer prize-winning poet C.K. Williams. Franco hit up his Rolodex and gathered an impressive cast including Jessica Chastain and Mila Kunis and now the first poster for it has hit the web.

The story is basically a collage of moments in the life of Williams told through his poems, with Franco playing the writer at the age of 40. Henry Hopper (Restless) plays an earlier version of Williams, while others take on the role at other stages. Jessica Chastain is his mother, Kunis as his wife Catherine, with Zach Braff and Bruce Campbell co-starring.  Can you imagine how that must have been for those kids, working with talent like that on their first feature? What an experience that must have been, and Franco deserves a lot of credit for helping to make that happen.

Edna Biesold, Sarah-Violet Bliss, Bruce Thierry Cheung, Gabrielle Demeestere, Alexis Gambis, Shruti Ganguly, Brooke Goldfinch, Omar Zuniga Hidalgo, Shripriya Mahesh, Pamela Romanowsky, Tine Thomasen, and Virginia Urreiztieta each directed one of the omnibus' chapters, and it may be wise to keep their names in the back of your mind.