THE SOUND AND THE FURY is not an easy book to read. Told from alternating character points of view, it took until last year for a color-coded edition to be released to aid the reader in deciphering the narrative. Faulkner’s books, while not insurmountable to adapt (THE SOUND AND THE FURY has a prior film version made in 1959), are no easy task to convey on the big screen.
Multi-hyphenate James Franco recently directed another Faulkner adaptation, AS I LAY DYING, and has hit sights set on next tackling THE SOUND AND THE FURY.
Here’s a brief synopsis of the novel:
The novel centers on the Compson family, former Southern aristocrats who are struggling to deal with the dissolution of their family and its reputation. Over the course of the thirty years or so related in the novel, the family falls into financial ruin, loses its religious faith and the respect of the town of Jefferson.
Franco has cowritten the screenplay for THE SOUND AND THE FURY with his AS I LAY DYING partner Matt Rager. Franco intends to star in the film which already has funding in place. The LA Times reports that Franco wants to bring back his AS I LAY DYING co-star Danny McBride, his brother Dave Franco, and MAD MEN star Jon Hamm.
Nothing is set in stone yet for the cast, but for some reason I have always envisioned Jon Hamm in a period drama like this. He has the matinee idol good looks and a damn fine acting ability to pull of both dramatic and comedic roles. As far as Franco’s directing ability, the trailer for AS I LAY DYING doesn’t look like it has quite the visual scope I would imagine for a tale like THE SOUND AND THE FURY, but I will reserve judgement until I actually see the movie. Until then, consider me intrigued.
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