James Franco seems pretty insistent on getting into directing, with film adaptations of literary classics Blood Meridian and As I Lay Dying sure to push his skills to their limit, and he’s optioned yet another book for a future job. Variety lets us know that the actor has taken on the rights for Zeroville, which was written by Steve Erickson and serves as a dark parody of the New Hollywood movement.

It focuses on Ike “Vikar” Jerome, who has just moved to Hollywood in 1969. With tattoos of Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor on his head, his journey “ends in both tragedy and discovery.” The book features many New Hollywood icons, such as Robert De Niro, Brian De Palma, John Milius and Paul Schrader, with the ghost of Clift even showing up.

I haven’t read the novel upon which this’ll be based, but the concept sounds pretty terrific, and I imagine this’ll only be boosted if they end up using the celebrities from the book as characters. Franco will develop the film under his Rabbit Bandini Prods., and if he directs, it’ll show his commitment to taking on all kinds of projects.

Speaking of taking on all kinds of projects, Vulture (via ThePlaylist) has kept a picture that Franco tweeted and then removed (along with his entire account), taken from the set of his short film with Harmony Korine. We told you about this around a month ago, where they plan to film actual gang members stabbing each other. There’s not much else to say about it, because it just kind of speaks for itself. It’s both funny and shocking, and certainly raises my interest in seeing how this thing turns out. That being said, it’s pretty NSFW due to nudity, so click the Vulture link to check it out.

What do you think of Franco directing a movie of Zeroville? Have you read the book? Are you looking forward to his collaboration with Harmony Korine?