Stars get the beat in 'Howl' (THR)

By Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte

David Strathairn, Alan Alda, Jeff Daniels, Mary-Louise Parker and Paul Rudd are attached to join James Franco in beatnik biopic "Howl." James Franco will play legendary beat poet Allen Ginsberg in the film to be written, produced and directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, writes today’s Hollywood Reporter.

The film will focus on the obscenity trial launched to censor Ginsberg's groundbreaking book-length poem, “Howl.” Epstein and Friedman were approached by the Allen Ginsberg Trust to make a film commemorating the 50th anniversary of the poem.

Gus Van Sant is executive producing the project which will portray real-life characters including prosecuting attorney Ralph McIntosh (Strathairn), Judge Clayton Horn (Alda), prosecution witness Professor David Kirk (Daniels), radio personality and prosecution witness Gail Potter (Parker) and literary critic and defense witness Luther Nichols (Rudd).

WMA and Cinetic Media are onboard to assemble financing and handle sales.

"Fifty years later, Ginsberg's vision is as relevant as the year he wrote it," Friedman told THR. "It resonates with issues of free speech, government censorship, militaristic empire building, fear-mongering, sexual conformity and the co-opting of religion."