Ridley Scott’s The Counselor isn’t the only Cormac McCarthy-based work hitting screens this fall. James Franco’s made a habit of directing independent festival films lately, receiving particular attention for As I Lay Dying, an adaptation of the classic novel by William Faulkner which premiered at Cannes this past year. He’s got another Faulkner adaptation – The Sound and the Fury – in the works, but for the moment all attentions are turned to Child of God, which premiers at the Venice Film Festival at the end of the month.

Child of God is based on the McCarthy novel of the same name, and is not to be confused with the similarly titled yet decidedly more upbeat C.O.G., which released its first trailer yesterday. Child of God was McCarthy’s third novel, first published in 1973. The story follows the gradual isolation of Lester Ballard, a violent psychopath who descents into literal cave-dwelling depravity. Scott Haze, a veteran of Franco’s As I Lay Dying, plays Ballard. That’s him in both of the photos below:

Franco co-wrote the screenplay with Vince Jolivette (executive produce on Spring Breakers and Lovelace), directs, and also has a role on-screen (as does Jolivette, an occasional actor). Child of God will also be in attendance at Toronto International Film Festival following the screening at Venice. There’s no distribution for the film lined up as of yet, but both venues should be excellent opportunities to remedy that, both in the U.S. and potentially in foreign markets.