James Franco dropped a small nugget in an interview with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show while talking about his persistent bachelorhood. “My brothers are both in very serious relationships,” Franco reminded the audience. “Davie, the youngest, is engaged, and is going to get married early next year, and Tom’s in a serious relationship.” Next year, as Patty in the break room keeps reminding you by saying “see you next year!” every time she leaves the office, is very soon indeed.

Sources

James Franco has a new agency home. The busy multihyphenate and Oscar-nominated actor has signed with UTA.His longtime rep Kami Putnam-Heist left CAA last month for a manager role at Anonymous Content, putting Franco into play. WME and UTA had been vying for his services, and the latter won out. He’ll be repped by a team of agents at UTA, while Putnam-Heist continues to manage him.

The prolific actor-director-writer-producer-author has worked on slew of projects in various capacities during the past decade. Since scoring a Best Actor Oscar nom for playing a trapped mountain climber in 2010’s 127 Hours, Franco has branched into filmmaking while continuing to rack up acting credits. His recent onscreen roles have ranged from Child of God, which he also wrote and directed, to In Dubious Battle, which he helmed. Along the way he also has starred in such pics as The Interview, This Is the End and Oz the Great and Powerful. Among his many acting projects in the pipeline are Why Him?, which opens next month, and Kin, also starring Jack Reynor, Zoe Kravitz and Dennis Quaid, which Lionsgate pre-bought ahead of Toronto.

On the TV side, Franco appeared in Hulu’s 11.22.63, recurred on TBS’ Angie Tribeca and stars in HBO’s upcoming NYC-set period drama The Deuce.

Deadline reported exclusively in September that Franco is teaming with Damian Gregory to produce a quartet of features in the $15 million-$20 million budget range, starting with The Game, an adaptation of the nonfiction book about how to become a successful pick-up artist.

Sources

Francesca Eastwood, Scott Haze and Taryn Manning also star in the supernatural heist thriller.
James Franco has once again underlined his status as one of AFM’s golden boys, with his star turn in The Vault helping it attract a U.S. buyer.

FilmRise picked up North American rights to Redwire Pictures’ supernatural heist thriller, described as The Town meets The Sixth Sense, which is being sold worldwide by Content Media.

Also starring Francesca Eastwood, Scott Haze and Taryn Manning, the film sees two estranged sisters forced to come together to rob a bank in order to save their brother. Dan Bush directed the film from an original screenplay he co-wrote with Conal Byrne, with Redwire’s Luke Daniels and Content’s Tom Butterfield producing.

“We are thrilled to be releasing The Vault, a terrifying thriller that is sure to keep audiences on the edge of their seats,” FilmRise CEO Danny Fisher said Saturdat in a statement. “Performances across the board are exceptional, including James Franco and Taryn Manning.”

Content’s Jonathan Ford negotiated the deal with Fisher.

Franco also has his directorial efforts In Dubious Battle, based on the John Steinbeck novel, and post-apocalyptic actioner Future World selling at the ongoing AFM.

Sources

Demian Gregory and James Franco have partnered to produce four feature films with budgets in the $15 million-$20 million range. The first title under the deal is The Game, based on the bestselling book — part memoir, part how-to guide — by Neil Strauss about how to become a successful pick-up artist. Franco will star as Mystery, a man who serves as Strauss’ “wingman” in the book. The New York Times bestseller is enjoying its 11th year in print this month

Gregory will produce The Game alongside Franco and his business partner Vince Jolivette (Spring Breakers); executive producers are Nicholas Cafritz and Robert Reed Peterson.

Under terms of the new deal, Gregory will produce and finance these films through his Aristocracy Group and his Composite Media Capital in partnership with Franco’s outfit Rabbit Bandini Productions. The titles in the production slate comprise talent-driven stories, ranging from comedy to thriller and high-end drama.

“Nearly every person I meet has a strong opinion on The Game, whether they’ve read it or not,” said Strauss, the author of seven other bestselling books including The Truth, Emergency and The Dirt. “For some, it changed their lives and led to marriage and children. For others, it is the one of the most terrifying things to ever happen to the dating world. For me, it is both, but I’m forever grateful for my time in the underground world of pick-up artists because it showed me that a guy who had given up all hope of ever being comfortable with himself and others could change.”

The film has been fast-tracked and is scheduled to enter production in 2017, with the producers looking to attach a director and cast.

Aristocracy Group is a consortium of vertically integrated media companies specializing in production and financing of filmed entertainment privately held by Gregory. Composite Media Capital is a U.S.-based film finance outfit launched by Gregory, Cafritz and Peterson.

Strauss is also a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, was a correspondent at The New York Times for 10 years and has writing credits ranging from TV shows for HBO to liner notes for Nirvana.

Sources