In case you were wondering, here’s how a manic artistic type like James Franco kicks off the New Year: by announcing his crazy pants plans to direct film adaptations of both William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying and Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. You know, just two of the most important literary works of the 20th century. And as if that wasn’t going to be a big enough of a creative challenge, both films would be based on scripts that Franco adapted himself. Yikes.
If this news turns out to be true, we say forget giving someone else a turn in the cultural spotlight in 2011, this is more of a case of knowing your own limitations. Instead, why not spend that time prepping so that you don’t bomb at the Oscars? Or resting so that you don’t get photographed falling asleep in your classes at Yale and the Rhode Island School of Design? Or putting the finishing touches on the work in your first solo gallery show, so that the art world takes you seriously? We’re not telling you to slow down, just don’t take on projects that sound completely doomed even to us, some of your biggest fans. [via Vulture]