James Franco Will Receive Innovator Award at the Venice International Film Festival

2014 is shaping up to be quite another jam packed year for writer-actor-director James Franco. Not only has the Oscar-nominated actor made his Broadway debut in “Of Mice and Men” and released his Cormac McCarthy adaptation “Child of God,” but the Venice Film Festival has announced that he will also receive the event’s prestigious Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker prize, awarded to a personality who has made an original contribution to innovation in contemporary cinema. 

“James Franco is one of the most versatile and multi-talented auteurs on the current American scene, as an actor in cinema and theatre, director, screenwriter, producer, soap-opera star, video-artist and much more,” said Alberto Barbera, the Director of the Venice Film Festival. Additionally, the festival will screen Franco’s latest film, his adaptation of William Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury.” Both the bestowing of the prize and the screening will take place in the Sala Grande on September 5th.