James Franco is currently enjoying high critical acclaim for both The Disaster Artist, a film in which he stars and directs which is based on cult classic The Room, and TV series The Deuce.
His next move could be read as somewhat returning to his roots as according to Deadline, Fox is eyeing him to play a Marvel mutant superhero. It’s a funny one given the actor’s breakthrough role was as Harry Osborn (later the Green Goblin) in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy.
The X-Men spin-off focusses on Multiple Man, a character which made his on-screen debut in X-Men: The Last Stand, when he was played by Eric Dane (Grey's Anatomy).
Multiple Man, aka James Madrox, is capable of creating multiple versions of himself, and it is ambiguous as to whether he is a good or evil character. According to the comics, the mutation was discovered at birth, after which Professor X encouraged his father to take the boy and his family into hiding. Professor X also made Multiple Man a suit to help him control his powers. However, the superhero goes mad when the suit malfunctions.
Wonder Woman scribe Allan Heinberg is reportedly writing the script, and the producers are Simon Kinberg through his Genre Films (Kinberg worked with Franco on The Hardy Men) along with Franco and Ramona Films (which was behind The Disaster Artist).
Fox has been getting the most it possibly can out of the X-Men universe, with upcoming features including The New Mutants, Deadpool 2, X-Men: Dark Phoenix and Gambit (with Channing Tatum).
