A strange thing happened way back when. Actor James Franco, possessed with the need to be a crazy multi-hyphenate, actor/writer/director/producer, poet, you name it, was directing film after film at a rapid pace. And an extraordinary speed considering how much of an in-demand actor he has been—Franco has 39 directing credits on IMDB. He’s only slowed down slightly. Between 2005 and 2019, Franco directed a whopping 16 feature films, many of them micro-budgeted, not all of them actually theatrically released (and there’s two more on the way not out yet). One of those films was the comedy/drama “Zeroville.”
Starring Franco, Seth Rogen, Jacki Weaver, Megan Fox, Jamie Costa, Will Ferrell, Joey King, Craig Robinson, and Danny McBride, “Zeroville,” tells the story of a young actor, with dreams of superstardom, who moves to LA and has to navigate the changing industry. But the movie actually shot in 2014.
Why the delay? Well, the unfortunate distributor Alchemy had acquired U.S distribution rights to the film back in September 2015, but the company filed for bankruptcy soon after, leaving the film without a distributor and in legal limbo (they were the company that sold off “The Lobster” to A24 before they folded). Earlier this year in the spring, it was reported that the company myCinema had acquired distribution rights to the film, setting a September 2019 release.
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And that part held fast, myCinema is releasing the film this fall and has finally unveiled the new first look trailer for the movie. Here’s the official synopsis:
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Vikar is a lost soul journeying through Hollywood 1969, a land of myths, beauty, and monsters. The studio system is in decay, and a new generation of brash filmmakers are on the rise. With his shaved head marked by a tattoo from his favorite film, 1951’s A Place in the Sun, Vikar is a bizarre presence even amid the dreamers and players. He finds work first building sets, then as an apprentice editor obsessed with wielding the power of moving images. As his involvement in the creative process deepens, so does his fascination with a tragic screen goddess named Soledad. Together they discover just how hard it is to live in the blurred boundary between reality and illusion.
“Zeroville” is finally coming to theaters on September 20. Watch the first trailer below.