As I Lay Dying (film)

As I Lay Dying
As I Lay Dying
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	James Franco
Written by	James Franco; Matthew Rager
Based on	As I Lay Dying; by William Faulkner
Produced by	Caroline Aragon; Lee Caplin; Vince Jolivette; Avi Lerner; Miles Levy; Matthew O'Toole; Robert Van Norden
Starring	James Franco; Logan Marshall-Green; Danny McBride; Tim Blake Nelson
Cinematography	Christina Voros
Edited by	Ian Olds
Music by	Tim O'Keefe
Production; companies	RabbitBandini Productions; Picture Entertainment
Distributed by	iTunes
Release dates	May 20, 2013 (Cannes); October 11, 2013 (US);
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

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 stars Franco, Tim Blake Nelson, Danny McBride, Logan Marshall-Green, Ahna O'Reilly, Jim Parrack, Beth Grant, and Brady Permenter.

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]

Cast

James Franco as Darl Bundren
Logan Marshall-Green as Jewel Bundren
Danny McBride as Vernon Tull
Tim Blake Nelson as Anse Bundren
Ahna O'Reilly as Dewey Dell Bundren
Beth Grant as Addie Bundren
Jim Parrack as Cash Bundren
Jesse Heiman as Jody
Scott Haze as Skeet MacGowan
Brady Permenter as Vardaman Bundren

Production

James Franco decided to write a screenplay of the novel with 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]

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."^[7]