This is, indeed, the trailer for a James Franco-directed film that sees some form of premiere in 2013, but it’s not As I Lay Dying… or Child of God… or even Interior. Leather Bar, for that matter. What we have, instead, is Sal, a project which the multi-multi-hyphenate had completed in 2011 (even screening it at Venice that year), but is only, now, getting out to the public at large — which is important, I suppose, if you feared giving the guy too much credit for maintaining a heavy workload.
As one who appreciates the attempt at something different, though — and I’m not the only one — yours truly is pleased to see a devotion to the non-commercial persist with Sal, which sees Val Lauren portrays Sal Mineo, an actor whose fame from Nicholas Ray‘s Rebel Without a Cause and Otto Preminger‘s Exodus — a pair of Academy Award-nominated performances, no less — quickly dried up, leaving him a struggling actor who, 20 years after the James Deen-starrer, was murdered in an alleyway. Sal has a fine narrative right in place, and although it’s difficult to glean much from the preview at hand — except to say the flatness of Franco‘s visual palette is something of an early concern — one can hope a little-known, tragic Hollywood story is given its proper due in a translation to the big screen.
Watch the trailer below (via The Huffington Post):
Synopsis:
James Franco‘s Sal chronicles the final day in the life of actor Sal Mineo (Val Lauren), 1950s teen idol and an Academy Award® nominee for his roles in Rebel Without a Cause and Exodus. Almost two decades later, Mineo is no longer the marquee sensation he had once been — but he has become open about his homosexuality and is finding his way to becoming the actor and director he has always wanted to be. Featuring a magnetic performance by Lauren, Franco’s intimate portrait finds the human details in a larger-than-life Hollywood story.
Sal will hit VOD and iTunes on October 22, and will arrive in limited theatrical release on November 1.
Does this glimpse at yet another Franco endeavor yield promise?