James Franco-Starrer ‘Hey Joe’ Set to World Premiere at Rome Film Festival

“Hey Joe,” a drama in which James Franco plays a U.S. Navy sailor stationed in post-World War II Naples, will world premiere at the Rome Film Festival next month.

The gritty film, directed by Claudio Giovannesi (“Gomorrah” TV series, “Piranhas”), is produced by Italy’s Palomar in tandem with RAI Cinema and Vision Distribution, which will release the film in Italy. Vision Distribution International is handling international sales.

In “Hey Joe,” Franco plays Dean Barry, an American sailor who in 1944, at age 23, disembarks in war-torn Naples. He falls in love with a young, very poor, local woman named Lucia. A couple of years later, Dean is forced to leave Lucia, alone and pregnant, to go back to New Jersey. He eventually returns to Naples to find the woman and her son, Enzo — but the city has changed a lot and Dean must navigate these challenges leading up to a surprise finale. Franco speaks both English and Italian in the film.

Once one of Hollywood’s hottest stars, Franco has recently been taking roles outside of the U.S. following a now-settled 2019 lawsuit alleging that he sexually exploited young women who took his acting class. He made his return to film for the first time since the lawsuit earlier this year with the French action-thriller “The Price of Money: A Largo Winch Adventure.”

The “Hey Joe” screenplay is written by Giovannesi and ace Neapolitan writer Maurizio Braucci, who previously worked with Giovannesi on “Piranhas,” a drama about a gang of Neapolitan teens that won the Berlin Film Festival’s 2019 Silver Bear for best screenplay.

The film’s cast also comprises Francesco Di Napoli (“Piranhas”), Giulia Ercolini, Aniello Arena (“Reality,” “Fiore”) and Francesca Montuori (“My Brilliant Friend”).

The 19th edition of the Rome Film Festival will run Oct. 16-27.