Add pretty boy actor James Franco to the list of actors who actually really wanted to direct. Now the “127 Hours” star will get his chance with “The Night Stalker”, a true-story biopic about Richard Ramirez, a serial killer and Satan enthusiast who terrorized Southern California in the mid-1980s. After a string of rape and murders, the media-dubbed The Night Stalker was eventually caught and convicted of 13 counts of murder, five attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults and 14 burglaries. In word: he’s a bad dude.
The NYPost says Franco will star as Ramirez and direct the film, making “The Night Stalker” his feature-film debut. Shooting on the fact-based pic, which will be based on the true-crime author Philip Carlo’s “The Night Stalker,” will commence this summer when Franco is on break from Yale.
“The Night Stalker” will be co-produced by Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell and Nicolas Constantine, who also wrote the screenplay.
Below, the real Richard Ramirez:
