James Franco’s list of personal and professional achievements continues to dazzle and/or perplex the public at large. Between his mission to adapt William Faulkner’s most unfilmable novels, impress the New York art scene with his canvases, and become an established author via his volumes of poetry and short stories, the man somehow fits in time to produce movies as well. On that note, today we’re hearing that his production company, Rabbit Bandini, will be producing a frat hazing flick titled Goat.
The movie will mark a reunion of sorts for Franco, who’ll once more be working with Pineapple Express director David Gordon Green. However, the Pineapple director won’t be calling the shots this time – although he was originally slated to. His original line-up for the flick even had casting underway, with Emile Hirsch attached in the lead role. After Green opted out of directing, Jeff Nichols (Mud, Take Shelter) was next in line to take on the job back in 2008.
Taking to the keys, Green will be adapting the screenplay from Brad Land’s best-selling memoir. On board to direct is King Kelly helmer, Andrew Neel. While I’ve yet to see any of his work, the brief synopsis alone has me gripped:
Reeling from a terrifying assault, a 19-year-old boy enrols into college with his brother and pledges the same fraternity. What happens there, in the name of “brotherhood,” tests the boy and his loyalty to his brother in brutal ways.
Will it be a comedy, or a dramedy, or a thriller? There’s a good chance it’ll contain all three, especially with the talent attached. The idea of Hirsch taking on the lead is one that’d definitely work for this kind of material, but as his name was not mentioned in this new iteration, we’ll have to wait and see. There’s of course a strong possibility that Franco himself may take the role, though that isn’t confirmed.
You can read the full synopsis for Brad Land’s memoir below, and be sure to let us know if you’ll be lining up to see Goat.
Reeling from a terrifying assault that has left him physically injured and psychologically shattered, nineteen-year-old Brad Land must also contend with unsympathetic local police, parents who can barely discuss “the incident” (as they call it), a brother riddled with guilt but unable to slow down enough for Brad to keep up, and the feeling that he’ll never be normal again. When Brad’s brother enrolls at Clemson University and pledges a fraternity, Brad believes he’s being left behind once and for all. Desperate to belong, he follows. What happens there—in the name of “brotherhood,” and with the supposed goal of forging a scholar and a gentleman from the raw materials of boyhood—involves torturous late-night hazing, heartbreaking estrangement from his brother, and, finally, the death of a fellow pledge. Ultimately, Brad must weigh total alienation from his newfound community against accepting a form of brutality he already knows too well.