James Franco Graces William Faulkners ‘As I Lay Dying’ Book Cover, Draws Criticism

William Faulker wrote a book in 1930 titled As I Lay Dying and that books jacket cover has now been hijacked by Hollywood heavyweight James Franco.

The Yale graduate recently decided to turn the book into a movie and as often happens a still from that movie was used for a reprinted edition of the novel.

Movie tie-ins are nothing new in Hollywood, in fact head to your local Barnes & Noble or order a book off Amazon and you will see plenty of movie tie-in covers. However, the cover this time around has irked prominent New York Times film critic Keith Unlich.

In response to the book cover Unlich sent out a tweet that immediately received dozens of favorites and retweets.

As expected most non-fans of the book cover were quick to attack James Franco for repurposing the book for his own gain.

Oh for fuck’s sake. pic.twitter.com/3V0dMgB9fI

— Keith Uhlich (@keithuhlich) September 12, 2013

David Haglund wrote the following response to the book cover:

“In case you’re wondering: No, As I Lay Dying is not a memoir, and it is not by James Franco. And William Faulkner, though he did have a mustache, wasn’t quite so hunky.”

The Atlantic Wire asked Uhlich why he was so upset about the book cover to which he gave his standard reply “Franco. Always Franco.”

Given his starring role in the film and the standard Hollywood tie-in many Franco fans have stood up for the cover.

In this writers opinion if a picture of James Franco gets some teenager or adult to pick up As I Lay Dying then the cover has done its job well.

Here’s the James Franco featured cover:

Do you have a problem with James Franco being featured on the cover of a William Faulkner classic?