Set to take on the lead role in the cinematic adaptation of the 2007 critically acclaimed novel by Steve Erickson, James Franco (127 Hours) posted before and after pics last month, with the latter baldheaded image accompanied by the caption: “Get ready for Zeroville.”

Keeping track of the 36-year-old’s many projects is quite the task, as he stays busy in front of and behind the camera.  At least when he’s directing he tends to fill up the cast with his friends and people he’s worked with on previous projects.

According to Screen Daily, Franco has brought on Seth Rogen (The Interview), Megan Fox (Transformers), Craig Robinson (Hot Tub Time Machine 2), Will Ferrell (Anchorman 2), Horatio Sanz (Saturday Night Live), Dave Franco (Neighbors), Joey King (Oz: The Great & Powerful), Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook), and Danny McBride (This Is The End).

In 2011, Franco optioned the rights to Steve Erickson’s book, Zeroville, which focuses on a 24-year-old film-obsessed architecture student (Franco) named Vikar Jerome.  In 1969, Jerome arrives on Hollywood Boulevard where he encounters a world of sex, drugs, rock & roll, and movie stars that his religiously repressed upbringing has ill-prepared him for.  He ultimately scores a job as a film editor and winds up uncovering the frames of a secret film hidden within the reels of every movie ever made.

The excitement continues as Franco’s character will cross paths with a femme-fatale named Soledad (Fox), an “eccentric, cigar-chomping surf-hippy” named Viking Man (Rogen), who offers him some guidance, and a sinister financier (McBride).  Additionally, two-time Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver is set play Dotty, a film editor acting as a mentor and friend to Jerome.

Franco will also produce the film, alongside Vince Jolivette with his own Rabbit Bandini Productions as well as Caroline Aragon and Michael Mendelsohn of Patriot Pictures.

Zeroville will be filming Pasadena, CA over the next few weeks.