James Franco Wants Hamm For "Sound And Fury"

James Franco has confirmed to The Los Angeles Times that he's planning an independently financed film adaptation of author William Faulkner's 1929 classic novel "The Sound and the Fury".

The story follows a group of Southern aristocrats who fall on hard times early in the 20th century.

Franco will direct and star in the film from a script he co-wrote with Matt Rager. The pair wrote Franco's recent adaptation of Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying" which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year.

If scheduling issues can be worked out, Jon Hamm will play the family patriarch, Mr. Compson. Danny McBride is expected to have a role, while James' brother Dave Franco could be playing the suicidal Quentin Compson.

Production on 'Fury' hopes to begin as early as this Fall.

Franco recently pulled out of directing an adaptation of author Andre Dubus III's book "The Garden of Last Days" 2 weeks before production was scheduled to start.