James Franco's going from stoner to beat poet (not a long road, some would say) with the lead role as Allen Ginsberg in Howl, but he won't be alone. A rather tasty ensemble has joined him, including David Strathairn, Alan Alda, Jeff Daniels, Mary-Louise Parker and Paul Rudd.
The story focuses on the obscenity trial launched to censor Ginsberg's groundbreaking poem Howl (hence the title of the film, see?). For those of you who avoid poetry like a particularly virulent form of plague, that's the one that starts, "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness" and gets more impassioned from there.
The trial, in 1957, featured certain real-life characters who will appear in the film. There's prosecuting attorney Ralph McIntosh (Strathairn); Judge Clayton Horn (Alda); prosecution witness - and, we're guessing, literary expert - Professor David Kirk (Daniels); prosecution witness and radio personality Gail Potter (Parker) and literary critic and defence witness Luther Nichols (Rudd).
Documentary filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman will make their feature debut on the film - writing, producing and directing - while Gus Van Sant is executive producing. Graphic novelist and Ginsberg collaborator Eric Drooker will create an animated accompaniment to the poem itself (in what he's calling a "Beat fantasia") while Carter Burwell writes the score.
Like, groovy man.