A year ago this time you couldn’t turn around without James Franco in the spotlight, as announcements of many artistic ventures, coupled with his Academy Award hosting duties, reached a breaking point. Things have been relatively quiet for the Oscar-nominated actor since then, with a bump due to the better-than-expected Rise of the Planet of the Apes. But what is on the horizon for the budding actor/writer/director?

Early last year he revealed plans to direct an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy‘s highly praised novel Blood Meridian and then in the fall that was put on hold to focus on another work from the No Country For Old Men author, his third book Child of God. Things are actually underway, as Roger Friedman confirms Franco is currently in production on the film in West Virginia. Franco and Tim Blake Nelson are part of the cast, but word is that he is using almost all locals, so don’t expect any other big names here. Check out a synopsis of the novel below.

In this taut, chilling novel, Lester Ballard–a violent, dispossessed man (Franco) falsely accused of rape–haunts the hill country of East Tennessee when he is released from jail. While telling his story, Cormac McCarthy depicts the most sordid aspects of life with dignity, humor, and characteristic lyrical brilliance.

As for Meridian, reports indicate that the film has been “scuttled” following Franco’s talks with producer Scott Rudin falling apart. Franco is coming off the recently released Broken Tower with bad buzz, so lets hope he does an adaptation of this celebrated author right. In other McCarthy news, he recently got into the screenwriting game with his first spec The Counselor, with Ridley Scott attached. Not a bad start.

Franco is still keeping busy as he’ll next be seen in the biopic Lovelace as Hugh Hefner (cameo only), Seth Rogen‘s The Apocalypse, Harmony Korine‘s Spring Breakers, Sam Raimi’s Oz: The Great and Powerful and the mob drama The Iceman.

What do you think about Franco officially directing a McCarthy novel?