Potentially typecasting himself (even further) as an artist whose ostensible interest in the wider world always somehow ends up being focused on himself, James Franco is starring in the film adaptation of Stephen Elliott’s inward-looking true-crime memoir The Adderall Diaries. Split between Elliott’s investigation into a complicated murder case and his examinations of his own life and his fractious relationship with his father, the trailer for the new film sees sleepy-mode Franco stumble through the role of the inward-looking author.
This isn’t Franco’s first experience with Elliott; he co-starred in the writer’s directorial debut, 2012’s About Cherry. This time, he’s joined by love interest Amber Heard, research subject Christian Slater, and Ed Harris, giving his best The Great Santini riff as Elliott’s anger-prone father. Together, they all dig into the details of the murders, the subjective nature of memory, and whether Franco can go an entire movie without ever fully opening his eyes.