James Franco To Star in and Direct a Biopic About Artist Shel Silverstein
It looks like James Franco has found a great new film project to jump on board. According to Variety, he is in talks to in and direct a film that will tell the story of prolific children’s book author, cartoonist, and lyricist Shel Silverstein.
Shel Silverstein is best known for his children's books such as The Giving Tree, Where The Sidewalk Ends, Falling Up, A Light in the Attic, Everything On It, The Missing Piece and more. I own all of these books and I enjoyed reading many of them all the time when I was growing up!
In case you didn't know, Silverstein was also a singer, songwriter, and screenwriter. According to the report, the movie will focus "not only on his struggles professionally, but personally as well, and trace how he became the iconic author he is today."
This is actually incredibly cool and James Franco is the perfect talent to take on the project. I know that he'll do a phenomenal job. I just recently saw The Disaster Artist, and it's one of the best films that I've seen this year.
The movie will be written by Chris Shafer and Paul Vicknair and it will be an adaptation of Lisa Rogak’s book A Boy Named Shel. You can read the description of that book below:
Few authors are as beloved as Shel Silverstein. His inimitable drawings and comic poems have become the bedtime staples of millions of children and their parents, but few readers know much about the man behind that wild-eyed, bearded face peering out from the backs of dust jackets.
In A Boy Named Shel, Lisa Rogak tells the full story of a life as antic and adventurous as any of his creations. A man with an incurable case of wanderlust, Shel kept homes on both coasts and many places in between---and enjoyed regular stays in the Playboy Mansion. Everywhere he went he charmed neighbors, made countless friends, and romanced almost as many women with his unstoppable energy and never-ending wit.
His boundless creativity brought him fame and fortune---neither of which changed his down-to-earth way of life---and his children's books sold millions of copies. But he was much more than "just" a children's writer. He collaborated with anyone who crossed his path, and found success in a wider range of genres than most artists could ever hope to master. He penned hit songs like "A Boy Named Sue" and "The Unicorn." He drew cartoons for Stars & Stripes and got his big break with Playboy. He wrote experimental plays and collaborated on scripts with David Mamet. With a seemingly unending stream of fresh ideas, he worked compulsively and enthusiastically on a wide array of projects up until his death, in 1999.
Drawing on wide-ranging interviews and in-depth research, Rogak gives fans a warm, enlightening portrait of an artist whose imaginative spirit created the poems, songs, and drawings that have touched the lives of so many children---and adults.