“Just chillin with my man, Bill Faulkner before the hometown screening of “Sound and the Fury!’ Hotty Toddy!!” Courtesy | James Franco
Highly acclaimed actor James Franco was among this year’s Oxford Film Festival attendees. The Oscar-nominated actor made the trip to Faulkner country for the Mississippi premiere of his film adaptation of “The Sound and the Fury, which he both directed and starred in.
Franco decided the morning of the festival to come to Oxford, but his interest in the town is not short-lived. His deep admiration of Faulkner piqued his curiosity about Oxford because of its counterpart in the fictional towns of Faulkner’s works.
“James is a big fan of Faulkner so he has wanted to attend for some time,” said Melanie Addington, developmental director for the festival. “His schedule opened up last minute so he had the opportunity. He asked to come. He called us.”
Franco attended the movie at the Malco Oxford Commons Theater with co-star Tim Blake Nelson and participated in a thirty minute Q&A following the film. The audience was allowed the opportunity to ask questions of Franco, Nelson, Mississippi cast members and casting director Matthew Morgan.
According to Molly Ferguson, the executive director of the festival, fans were very involved with the Q&A session.
“The audience asked Franco questions about his motivation behind adapting the novel, and some of the specific choices he made in doing so,” Ferguson said.
Franco’s attendance spurred a sellout crowd for the film.
Michelle Emanuel, operations director of the festival, said Franco was glad people read the book the movie was based on.
“Franco remarked at the Q&A that it was unusual for him to screen the film in front of so many people who had actually read the book,” Emanuel.
The film previously premiered at the Venice Film Festival in October. Similarly to the Venice festival, the Oxford screening stirred mixed reviews. Ferguson stated that at the Oxford festival, “The opinions ranged from glowing endorsement and appreciation to frustration and disdain.”
“The Sound and the Fury” follows the story of the fallen Compson family of which Franco plays son Benjy. The film was shown as a special screening at the festival, making it ineligible for an award.
Faulkner films are known as being a cinematic challenge because of his stream-of-consciousness writing style, but Franco did not shy away from the task.
“Granting that a film adaptation of a literary work is a translation into a different medium, I’d say Franco’s film did what he said he was trying to do and was true to the spirit of Faulkner’s novel,” said Jack Barbera, UM English professor and festival jury member. “Faulkner was a master of language and there are things a great writer can do in language that is almost impossible to do in film, but there also are ways that images and sounds can communicate more powerfully than words.”
During Franco’s stay he visited both Rowan Oak and Faulkner’s grave. While at the grave, he posted a photograph on Instagram with a caption including, “Hotty Toddy!”
Franco is not the first big name to have attended the Oxford Film Festival. In 2009, Morgan Freeman made the trip to Oxford for his film “Prom Night in Mississippi.”
The Oxford Film Festival completed its 12th year Sunday. The festival started in 2003 in an effort to showcase the work of young filmmakers and to bring new films to Mississippi. Five categories of films are screened at the festival: animated short, documentary feature and short, experimental short, Mississippi narrative and documentary and narrative feature and short.
