2013 film
| As I Lay Dying |
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 Theatrical release poster |
| Directed by | James Franco |
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| Written by | James Franco
Matthew Rager |
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| Based on | As I Lay Dying
by William Faulkner |
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| Produced by | Caroline Aragon
Lee Caplin
Vince Jolivette
Avi Lerner
Miles Levy
Matthew O'Toole
Robert Van Norden |
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| Starring | James Franco
Logan Marshall-Green
Danny McBride
Tim Blake Nelson |
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| Cinematography | Christina Voros |
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| Edited by | Ian Olds |
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| Music by | Tim O'Keefe |
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Production
companies | RabbitBandini Productions
Picture Entertainment |
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| Distributed by | iTunes |
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Release dates |
- May 20, 2013 (2013-05-20) (Cannes)
- October 11, 2013 (2013-10-11) (US)
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Running time | 120 minutes |
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| Country | United States |
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| Language | English |
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As I Lay Dying is a 2013 American drama film directed and co-written by and starring James Franco, based on William Faulkner's 1930 novel of the same name. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard Section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.[1][2]
Premise
The story is based on the loss of a mother and the struggles the family endure by going the distance to her burial ground in her home town.[3]
Production
James Franco decided to write a screenplay of the novel with a fellow Yale graduate student Matt Rager. The novel As I Lay Dying was described as a story impossible to be transformed into a film due to the multi-narrative voices within it.[4] Franco saw this as a challenge and chose to depict the many voices through choices of styling, through camera edits. Faulkner told the story in a chorus of voices: 15 narrators in the 59 chapters.[4] To locate an equivalent for the novel’s polyphonal scheme, Franco employed the use of narrative expressed through dialogue and voice overs.[3]
Release
The film was originally scheduled for a theatrical release on September 27, 2013 but Millennium Films scrapped the plans. It was released on October 22, 2013 to iTunes and November 5, 2013 to DVD/VOD platforms.
Reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise and criticism focused on Franco's methods of presenting Faulkner's complex narrative. It holds a 38% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 29 reviews with an average rating of 4.6/10. The website's critical consensus states: "As I Lay Dying finds director, star, and co-writer James Franco attempting to adapt one of William Faulkner's weightier works, with disappointingly muddled results".[5] Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 50 out of 100, based on 13 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6]
Kyle Smith of the New York Post was very harsh, declaring, "Franco dilutes the drama with first-year-film-student gimmicks, like split screens and slow motion, it just seems like a dull collection of pointless monologues from actors who can’t even be bothered to match up their accents."[7] A. O. Scott of The New York Times said, "But in rushing in where wise men might fear to tread, Mr. Franco has accomplished something serious and worthwhile. His As I Lay Dying is certainly ambitious, but it is also admirably modest. The script, written by Mr. Franco with Matt Rager, tries to pare Faulkner's multivoiced narrative to a manageable essence."[8]
