Noted graduate student James Franco will be portraying Allen Ginsberg in the upcoming film Howl, which was shown at Cinema Society on Monday.
Franco has more than a Columbia education in common with the Beat poet, he tells Vanity Fair. For example, a love of poetry:
“I’m in film school right now at N.Y.U., and all the short films I’ve been making are based on poems,” he said. “One is based on a poem by Anthony Hecht. I did one based on a poem by Frank Bidart that’s going to premiere at Sundance, and I’m going to do one based on this guy named Spencer Reese, it’s called ‘The Clerk’s Tale.’ So I think poems work as films.”
As we attend to Franco’s literary pursuits, however, we would be remiss to neglect his established interest in the visual arts. Today he tells Cindy Adams:
“I spend my money on art-related things. I mean, if I’m spending it on myself at all, it’s on my favorite artist.”
Elsewhere in the day’s Franco news, Franco’s current non-literary/artistic interests include model Agyness Deyn.
