News broke last week that porn star Princess Donna is working on a new project with James Franco. While no other details were revealed at the time, today we can tell you that we believe the project is a film centring on the famous silent film star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. Franco released several photos from the production this week, one of which features a slate from the film dated December 20th, 2012.
From the photo, which is seen above, we can tell that the film features at least 28 scenes, which suggests at least a long form short film, if not a feature length project. The slate also tells us the film is being shot by Bruce Cheung, the DOP from Tar.
Interestingly enough, Franco wrote a piece for The Huffington Post on Jerry Stahl’s book I, Fatty back in June, so it isn’t surprising that he is now creating his own project around the silent film star. Arbuckle, who was an inspiration to silent film stars like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, was once on trial for the rape and murder of actress Virginia Rappe, which is believed to be the main focus of this piece.
Furthermore, we can tell you that the woman in the photo behind the slate is in fact Princess Donna, which is evident by the tattoo on her arm. She is likely playing Virginia Rappe. In additional photos provided by James Franco Italy we see actor Brian Lally, who is likely playing Arbuckle. Lally has appeared in Franco’s previous films Sal and Good Time Max and will have a role in the director’s upcoming Child Of God.
Check out all the photos below, a few of which feature James Franco dressed like he could be playing like Charlie Chaplin, and let us know what you think in the comments section.
