James Franco to direct

Actor James Franco seems to be in his career best years thus far with an Oscar nomination almost a forgone conclusion this year for his ultra believable take as doomed hiker Aron Ralston in 127 Hours. He aslo has a few other film projects in the works. The sci-fi actioner Rise Of The Apes and a supporting role in the Richard Kuklinski biopic with Benicio Del Toro and Michael Shannon called The Iceman. But what's even more interesting is Franco going behind the camera to direct his first film, Broken Tower ( also co-starring Michael Shannon) The film is an adaptation from the book written by Paul Mariani about the late poet Harold Hart Crane. The premise is as follows...

In a short, wild, and mostly unhappy life, Harold Hart Crane (1899-1932) became -- Hart Crane -- a major figure in 20th Century American poetry whose reputation has grown with time. His life became the stuff of legend. Hart Crane left an unhappy home at the age of 17 to live in New York City and follow his dream to become a poet. Without any formal education -- he did not finish high school -- he used his inborn gifts and wide reading to quickly become important to New York's literary culture and community. His first book, White Buildings, is a collection of short, difficult imagistic poetry. His second book, The Bridge, is a lengthy poem offering a mystic, highly personal account of America, its past and its future, using the Brooklyn Bridge is its chief symbol.
Crane's life was one of excess. From late adolescence, Crane drank heavily. He spent a great deal of time in underworld sex picking up sailors in the harbors of New York, all the while trying to conceal his sexual identity from his parents. Towards the end of his life, his behavior grew increasingly violent and self-destructive. He was jailed on several occasions in New York, Paris, and Mexico. Near the end, he did have what seems to be his only heterosexual relationship with Peggy Cowley, the divorced wife of the critic and publisher, Malcolm Cowley. Crane committed suicide when he returned with Peggy Cowley from Mexico in 1932 by jumping off the deck of a ship. He was all of 32.