Fresh off news he's starring in and directing a biopic about LA's famed night stalker, James Franco is back with more directorial updates. His adaptation of the acclaimed William Faulkner novel As I Lay Dying finally has a cast to go along with it, and there's some bigger names than people may have expected.

According to MTV News, Franco already conducted a test screening on News Year's Day in preparation for a full shoot this summer. There Will Be Blood star Paul Dano has officially boarded and word is the director is courting Michael Shannon pretty hard. You probably know Shannon from Boardwalk Empire, but he was also nominated by the Academy for his work on Revolutionary Road. Personally, I like to think of him as the nervous groom from Groundhog Day who gets tremendously excited about Wrestlemania, but I'm a strange character. Offers are also out to Six Feet Under patriarch Richard Jenkins and the newly sane Joaquin Phoenix.

Is it me or is James Franco like a modern day incarnation of Sir Philip Sidney? Not only does he have cool friends but he spends his life doing whatever the hell it is he feels like doing. From soap operas to Academy Awards' host to William Faulkner, Franco will try anything once. Let's hope no one informs him about heroin.