James Franco has already won accolades for playing an icon of an earlier decade, when he starred as James Dean in a TV biopic about the troubled actor. But now he's tackling an even tougher real-life character, and one who doesn't exactly immediately make you think of Franco. The star of the upcoming Pineapple Express told MTV Movies that he'll play Beat poet Allen Ginsberg in Howl, a documentary that nonetheless will feature Franco in re-enactments as a young Ginsberg.

"I’m gonna play the young Allen Ginsberg, the days before he went bald and gained weight. The early Howl days," Franco told them. Now, the picture you see above is how we normally think of Ginsberg-- covered in facial hair, and a bit on the portly side. But check out the image here, of Ginsberg at a younger age when he actually wrote Howl, the landmark poem that made him famous. You can kind of see the resemblance, right?

Howl is known for being a tough, raw poem, but Franco claims he's read it many times, so at least he knows what he's up against. He's always been an actor to willingly take challenges, so it's exciting to see him sticking with a dramatic role like this one even with Pineapple Express about to reveal him as a bona fide comedian. OK, so the Ginsberg role will be a re-enactment within a documentary--- not exactly big enough for an Oscar nod. But you know with Franco in the part, you'll pay attention anyway.