James Franco Puts Together All Star Cast for Steinbeck Adaptation

Variety reports that James Franco will direct and star in an adaptation of John Steinbeck’s sixth novel, In Dubious Battle from 1936.

James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vincent D’Onofrio, Robert Duvall, Ed Harris, Bryan Cranston and Danny McBride will star together in the adaptation of John Steinbeck’s “In Dubious Battle,” which Franco is also directing, 

AMBI Group is financing the film and producing with Rabbit Bandini Productions and That’s Hollywood Pictures Productions.

The original novel portrays the struggle between labor and capital in 1930s America as close to all-out warfare. Published in 1936, “In Dubious Battle” is considered Steinbeck’s first major work. Set in a fictionalized valley in California, the story explores themes Steinbeck later continued to develop: group behavior, social injustice, man’s inhumanity to man. A labor conflict between migrant apple pickers and the local growers’ association is the backdrop against which Jim Nolan (Franco) becomes involved in the labor movement and rapidly matures as he learns what it means to do organizational fieldwork.

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