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24 Frames

Oscilloscope howls with James Franco

By Steven Zeitchikwriter 
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It wasn’t the most well-received movie in Sundance history, but anyone into the Beat movement or James Franco will now have a chance to see ‘Howl,’ the story of Allen Ginsberg and his famous obscenity trial.

Oscilloscope, the upstart film company co-founded by former Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, has picked up North American rights to the movie and will turn it around for Sept. 24, when it will mount a limited theatrical release as well as premiere the film on VOD.

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Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman direct the dramatized true story, which stars Franco as iconic Beat poet Ginsberg and cuts among a reenactment of the trial, interviews with Ginsberg (Franco) and animated sequences meant to illustrate the poem.

The film could face a tough marketing climb; it might otherwise have relied on critical attention, but if the reviews mirror the Sundance reception, that might not quite work. A hint at how the company will market the film came with a line from Oscilloscope executive David Fenkel, who said that the filmmakers ‘put together a great cast, led by a performance by James Franco that people will be talking about for years.’

-- Steven Zeitchik

24 Frames
Steven Zeitchik

Steven Zeitchik is a former Los Angeles Times staff writer who covered film and the larger world of Hollywood for the paper from 2009 to 2017, exploring the personalities, issues, content and consequences of both the creative and business (and, increasingly, digital) aspects of our screen entertainment. He previously covered entertainment beats at Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, has contributed arts and culture pieces to the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the New York Times and has done journalistic tours of duty in Jerusalem and Berlin. While at The Times he has also reported stories in cities ranging from Cairo to Krakow, though Hollywood can still seem like the most exotic destination of all.

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