Addie Bundren is on her deathbed in the Mississippi town in which she lives with her family. However, she has very specific last wishes; she wants to be buried in the town of Jefferson, which is not the most straightforward of arrangements for her children Cash, Darl, Jewel, Dewey Dell and Vardaman, and husband Anse. Nonetheless, they dutifully make preparations to carry her coffin across county in a wagon but encounter many obstacles in the way from flooding to disturbing family secrets that threaten to tear their once tight-knit family apart. With each of the Bundrens suffering their own problems in their lives, the prospect of laying their beloved mother to rest becomes a burden for many of them and the entire mission turns into less of a dying woman's final request, and more of a test of loyalty.
'As I Lay Dying' is James Franco's ('The Broken Tower', 'My Own Private River', 'Interior. Leather Bar.') latest directorial effort with an adapted screenplay from the best-selling 1930 novel of the same name by William Faulkner. It's a classic tale of family loyalty converted to film for the first time and will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2013.
Starring: James Franco, Logan Marshall-Green, Richard Jenkins, Danny McBride, Tim Blake Nelson, Ahna O'Reilly, Beth Grant, Jim Parrack, Jesse Heiman, Casey Dillard, Scott Haze, Jessica Lemon Wilkinson, Brian Lally, Cameron Spann, Kenny Cook, Brady Permenter, Ash Taylor