The Long Home

The Long Home is an upcoming indie drama film directed by and starring James Franco, based on the novel of the same name by William Gay. It also stars Josh Hutcherson, Tim Blake Nelson, Courtney Love, Timothy Hutton, Giancarlo Esposito, Ashton Kutcher, Josh Hartnett, Zoe Levin, Analeigh Tipton, Scott Haze, and Robin Lord Taylor. Principal photography began on May 1, 2015.

Cast

 * Josh Hutcherson as Nathan Winer Jr.
 * Zoe Levin as Amber Rose
 * Tim Blake Nelson as Hovington
 * James Franco as Dallas Hardin
 * Courtney Love as Pearl
 * Timothy Hutton
 * Giancarlo Esposito as William Tell Oliver
 * Ashton Kutcher as Nathan Winer Sr.
 * Robin Lord Taylor as Lipscomb
 * Josh Hartnett
 * Analeigh Tipton as Actress
 * Scott Haze as Weimer
 * Gabrielle Haugh as Grace Blalock
 * Leila George as Edna Hodges
 * Austin Stowell
 * Garret Dillahunt as Bellwether

Pre-production
James Franco would direct, produce (through Rabbit Bandini Productions), and star in the film adaption of the William Gay novel of the same name. Robert Halmi Jr. and Jim Reeve would be executive producers.

The Long Home was offered up to $288,355 in Ohio film tax credits.

Casting
Franco posted on Instagram a list of The Long Home cast which included Josh Hutcherson, Timothy Hutton, Keegan Allen, Ashley Greene, Tim Blake Nelson, Jim Parrack, and Scott Haze.

Tim Blake Nelson collaborated with Franco for the seventh time as Hovington, a bootlegging patriarch. Josh Hutcherson starred as Nathan Winer. Hutton and Courtney Love were cast. Giancarlo Esposito played William Tell Oliver, "a Southern salt-of-the-earth man with a colorful, checkered life spent entirely within the confines of the country". Several other actors signed on to the cast: Ashton Kutcher, Josh Hartnett, Zoe Levin (as Amber Rose), Analeigh Tipton, Haze, and Robin Lord Taylor.

Filming
The film was shot in Eaton, Ohio, Hamilton, Ohio, and Cincinnati, Ohio.

Principal photography began on May 1, 2015 in Hamilton. This coincided with filming of another Franco film, Goat, which was shot "pretty much simultaneously". Filming began in Eaton on May 17. Production on the film wrapped on May 23, 2015, with filming lasting 23 days.

Release
The Long Home was tentatively expected to be released in 2017, and in November of that year, the sales rights to the movie were acquired by Great Point Media.