The first trailer for James Franco’s latest movie Pretenders is here. Franco has had his share of troubles in recent years, after facing multiple accusations of sexual misconduct in the wake of the #MeToo movement. But it hasn’t slowed down his creative output any. Not only is Franco starring in a minor role here, but he also serves as director. Now, we have a look at the movie which looks to be a small-scale, human drama that tackles a messy tale of love in the movie business.
The trailer paints an image of a few young dreamers kicking around in late 1970s/early 1980s New York. It doesn’t take long before we get to the heart of the issue here. A young filmmaker falls in love with a girl, and his friend similarly becomes stricken by the very same girl. A messy love triangle springs up and we see the situation progress overtime. It mostly seems like a simple enough, human story wrapped up in a period drama. James Franco previously directed the Oscar-nominated The Disaster Artist, which chronicles the making of The Room, as well as episodes of TV Shows he’s appeared in such as The Duce and 11.22.63.
The project sports a solid cast led by Jack Kilmer, the son of Val Kilmer. Rounding out the ensemble is Jane Levy (Evil Dead), Shameik Moore (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), Juno Temple (Maleficent), Brian Cox (Super Troopers 2), Dennis Quaid (The Intruder) and James Franco (The Disaster Artist). Another unique layer to this one is that the screenplay was penned by Josh Boone, who previously directed The Fault in Our Stars. Boone is also responsible for The New Mutants, the horror-themed X-Men spin-off that has been collecting dust for nearly two years. So this will at least give us some idea of what Boone is capable of outside of his infamous foray into the comic book movie world.
Pretenders centers on a film student, Terry, who is obsessed with French New Wave cinema. He finds his muse in a mysterious and beguiling actress, Catherine. Both Terry and his best friend, Phil, wind up falling for this beautiful young actress. They quickly come to realize that the more time they spend with her, the more of a mystery she becomes. After years of love, betrayal and collateral damage, the three find themselves in a dangerous situation that leaves one of them struggling for his life.
This comes not long after the trailer for James Franco’s long-lost movie Zeroville was finally revealed, which will also finally be released this fall after running into distribution issues for the last several years. Shaun Sanghani, Jay Davis, Jordan Yale Levine, Scott Levenson, Katie Leary and Franco serve as producers. Pretenders is set to arrive in theaters and on VOD on October 4. Be sure to check out the trailer from the Cleopatra Entertainment YouTube channel for yourself.
