
Attention wannabe hipsters, beat poet Allen Ginsberg just nabbed himself a biopic starring Greg's fave, James Franco, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Franco will star in Howl, 1950s-era tale, focusing on the obscenity trial launched to censor Ginsberg's groundbreaking book-length poem. Among the real-life characters featured in the film are prosecuting attorney Ralph McIntosh (David Strathairn), Judge Clayton Horn (Alan Alda), prosecution witness Professor David Kirk (Jeff Daniels), radio personality and prosecution witness Gail Potter (Mary Louise Parker) and literary critic and defense witness Luther Nichols (Paul Rudd).
Telling Pictures documentarians Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman will make their narrative writing, producing and directing debut.
"Fifty years later, Ginsberg's vision is as relevant as the year he wrote it," Friedman said. "It resonates with issues of free speech, government censorship, militaristic empire building, fear-mongering, sexual conformity and the co-opting of religion."