The first trailer for James Franco’s adaptation of the William Faulkner novel As I Lay Dying has arrived.  Adapting an author as verbose and complex as Faulkner is no easy task, but Franco is tackling As I Lay Dying head on as both director and star.  Given Franco’s incredibly varied tastes, it’s tough to tell if this film is a serious adaptation or just another one of his art experiments.  The drama is certainly played straightforward in this trailer, but the appearance of someone like Danny McBride in the cast is striking.  The verdict on the pic will be in soon enough, as the film is slated to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival which kicks off this week.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Tim Blake Nelson, Logan Marshall Green, Ahna O’Reilly, and Jim Parrack.

In January 2011, we reported that James Franco was set to make his directorial debut by adapting William Faulkner‘s As I Lay Dying.   He planned to get the movie in front of cameras in the summer, but obviously that didn’t happen (he also wanted to shoot an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy‘s Blood Meridian this year).  Today, Showbiz 411 reports As I Lay Dying has finally gotten back on track with a shoot set up for October in Mississippi.  Franco is also starting to line up roles for the adaptation, which is based on a book that contains twelve different points-of-view.  The cast will include Danny McBride, Tim Blake Nelson, Logan Marshall Green, Ahna O’Reilly, and Jim Parrack.  Franco will have a small role in the picture.

Directing Faulkner is a tall order, which is why no one has gotten an adaptation to the big screen since 1959′s The Sound and the Fury.  Faulkner’s novels are incredibly complex, which is partially the result of writing books with over 200 pages and only seven sentences.  Hit the jump for the synopsis of As I Lay Dying.

On Season 5 of HBO’s True Blood, actor Giles Matthey plays Claude, a mysterious fairy who has caught the eye of vamp Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll).  Distantly related to Sookie (Anna Paquin), he will be mentoring her in the ways of all things fairy, later on in the season.

During this recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, Giles Matthey talked about his crazy audition for the hit TV show and how he had no idea what role he was actually auditioning for, how he caught up on the previous four seasons and became an obsessive fan himself once he was cast, that he loves meeting fans of the show that are as excited about it as he is, how he sees Claude as loyal and protective, and how much fun his introduction into the story was.  He also talked about what attracts him to a specific project and what inspired him to try his hand at acting, in the first place.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

At PaleyFest Saturday night, the cast (and by cast, I mean the whole cast – as in pretty much every featured player on the show) and creator Alan Ball stopped by to preview the upcoming fourth season of True Blood and reminisce on the unapologetically “soapy” show. Besides Ball, in attendance were Anna Paquin (Sookie Stackhouse), Stephen Moyer (Bill Compton), Sam Trammell (Sam Merlotte), Ryan Kwanten (Jason Stackhouse), Rutina Wesley (Tara Thornton), Chris Bauer (Andy Bellefleur), Nelsan Ellis (Lafayette Reynolds), Jim Parrack (Hoyt Fortenberry), Carrie Preston (Arlene Fowler), Alexander Skarsgård (Eric Northman), Todd Lowe (Terry Bellefleur), Deborah Ann Woll (Jessica Hamby), Kristin Bauer (Pam De Beaufort), Marshall Allman (Tommy Mickens), Kevin Alejandro (Jesus Velasquez) and Joe Manganiello (Alcide Herveaux)…whew. For spoilers/teasers on the upcoming season, hit the jump.

With True Blood returning with new episodes this Sunday night on HBO, the network has provided us with 6 clips and 11 high resolution images from the upcoming season.  While many told me how much fun the show was over the past two seasons, it was only in the last few months that I finally caught up.  I now understand why it’s so popular.   Definitely recommended.  And I’m not someone that’s into the vampire craze.  Hit the jump for the clips and images: