There was Alexander the Great, Truman Capote, and Harvey Milk. And now there’s Allen Ginsberg. The famed gay poet and Jack Kerouac contemporary has become the latest real-life luminary to spawn two movies at the same time. Shooting now is Howl, a legal drama from writer-directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (The Celluloid Closet) starring James Franco (pictured, left) as Ginsberg along with Jon Hamm and Mary-Louise Parker. And starting this summer is Kill Your Darlings, a coming-of-age thriller featuring Chris Evans and, as Ginsberg, Jesse Eisenberg (pictured, right).
Usually, dueling biopics result in one clear winner trumping its competitor: With Alexander and Milk, the first film to start shooting effectively killed the other. In the case of Capote, both films were eventually made and released, but the first one to hit theaters (Capote) dominated the second (Infamous) at the box office and in terms of awards, even though both received strong reviews. Still, Kill Your Darlings director John Krokidas says he’s not concerned. “Capote and Infamous both covered the same exact period of time and story as the other,” he says. “Our two films are very different. Kill Your Darlings is about the untold story of murder that started the Beat movement and tells how these guys came to be the legends that they would
later be. And Howl takes what most would call Ginsberg’s greatest work and shows how it
caused such a ruckus and started one of the greatest trials about
censorship in the history of the United States. I think that the films complement each other perfectly.”
But will critics and moviegoers compare Franco and Eisenberg’s takes on Ginsberg like they did with Philip Seymour Hoffman and his fellow Capote, Toby Jones? Krokidas, who hopes to have Darlings out in late 2009 or early 2010, doesn’t think so: “Jesse is playing Allen Ginsberg when he was 19, when he’s trying to figure out who he is. Whereas in Howl, Ginsberg is starting to become a notable poet and is a lot more comfortable in his shoes. So I think they couldn’t be more different.” Still, the only way one film won’t have the upper hand over the other? If they both came out the same day.
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Don’t forget about the dueling Howard Hughes biopics!
They both sound interesting. I’m looking forward to Franco’s more though.
Hollywood can sleep easy. There will be plenty of sodomites to award at the next Oscars!
Though I don’t mind Eisenberg at all, I don’t think there’s much doubt that Franco is going to bring a better Allen Ginsberg to the table. The guy is just starting to come into his own, and I think we’ve yet to see what he can really do–this one might be the one for him. Eisenberg, ehhh…he’s a little Michael Cera for me, and one Michael Cera is starting to honestly be more than enough.
I’m calling it right now for “Howl”. We’ll see when they hit the theaters.
Jesse Eisenberg will make a much better Ginsberg. Franco should stick to comedies like Pineapple Express; being a funny man suits him more than drama.
My money’s on Eisenberg. He looks more like Ginsberg, and he’s the better actor. Franco was good as a cartoonish stoner, but he can’t underplay a role without just being himself, which is what happened in Milk. Eisenberg comes across as more sympathetic, and is more capable when it comes to expression.
I was one of Ginsberg’s students and we were very intimate in his final years and Eisenberg seems like the one to capture his manic and perverse energy. Franco looks more like one of the boys Allen would go after then the actual poet himself.
I say Eisenberg. He was almost too good in both Roger Dodger and Squid and the Whale. In a battle of dueling Ginsbergs, he’ll act circles around Franco. And that will make me happy.
upcoming dueling steve mcqueen projects. i think there might be more than one charles darwin projects in the works too.
One of these films is being produced by Christine Vachon. The other is not. The discussion really should end here.
seconded re: christine vachon as a producer.
and as for franco vs. eisenberg, i must agree with the majority of people here that eisenberg will play the better ginsberg, for sure. i just don’t think franco has the talent to pull this particular party off…
uh, part, not party…
though both may qualify, only one exudes the energy of a member of the tribe. or a serious intellect, for that matter. game, set, match: eisenberg.
Franco is a good actor but Allen Ginsberg ? It’s a miscast seriously casting directors !
Eisenberg on the other hand : it’s pretty good, at least he has physical resemblance, about the acting skills I don’t know..we’ll see !
The people saying James Franco can’t do drama must not have seen him in ‘James Dean’ and ‘Sonny’. I have no doubt that he will pull this role off.