Although he was set up to direct and star in The Garden of Last Days, James Franco has reportedly bailed on the picture two weeks before it was scheduled to begin production.  The adaptation of the Andre Dubus III novel was to center on a contemporary American thriller that tells the tales of three strangers whose paths intersect one September night in a Florida strip club.  Set to start shooting in New York on July 10th, the picture will now shut down completely with Franco exiting due to a disagreement with financial backer Millenium over the particular crew he wanted to hire.  Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) recently signed on to star, but it looks like the picture is not meant to be.  Hit the jump for more.

Deadline reports that Franco has bailed on The Garden of Last Days adaptation, citing "creative differences" stemming from a disagreement over the experience level of the crew Franco intended to hire.  More behind-the-scenes dirt on this one will likely come out in time.

Here’s the book description for The Garden of Last Days (via Amazon):

In his stunning follow-up to the #1 best-selling House of Sand and Fog, Andre Dubus draws us into the lives of three deeply flawed, driven people whose paths intersect on a September night in Florida. April, a stripper, has brought her daughter to work at the Puma Club for Men. There she encounters Bassam, a foreign client both remote and too personal, and free with his money. Meanwhile, another man, AJ, has been thrown out of the club, and he’s drunk and angry and lonely. From these explosive elements comes a relentless, raw, and page-turning narrative that seizes the reader by the throat with psychological tension, depth, and realism.