A new production company, Waterstone Entertainment, enters the media fray with The Stare, a drama starring James Franco and Winona Ryder, to be directed by Jay Anania. [Deadline]
The film focuses on a playwright (Ryder), whose mind begins to unravel as she starts on a new production. Franco (who is also producing), plays an actor performing in the play. The plot sounds quite a bit like Black Swan – only blessedly free of ballet and Natalie Portman.
Waterstone, formed by producer Jeff Kalligheri and Texas real estate developer and producer Steve Bowen, has two more projects in development, both with Franco producing (and one he’s apparently directing). According to Kalligheri, Waterstone will strike deals with an independent distributor, as well as offering minimum guarantees on films and will look for financial opportunities on the films they have in their pipeline. There is no word on whether or not Franco’s Waterstone films have anything to do with the variety of other projects he’s got going.
Franco previously starred in writer-director Anania’s Shadows and Lies. The Stare begins shooting May 6th in New York.
In the meantime, we’ll be seeing James Franco again in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which opens on August 5th, 2011. Check out the recently released trailer right here.
Does The Stare sound like something you’d see? Are you interested in whatever hi-tech serum James Franco is taking to avoid sleeping for the next half-decade?