“Palo Alto” Trailer — Coming-Of-Age Indie starring Emma Watson, James Franco and Jack Kilmer

Francis Ford Coppola is accompanying his granddaughter, Gia Coppola, to this year's Telluride Film Festival for the premiere of her directorial debut "Palo Alto," a coming-of-age drama based on the collection of short stories by actor James Franco, who also co-stars in the picture alongside Emma Roberts. The indie film sees Roberts as a young high school student named April, who must decide to continue to have a secret affair with an older football coach (Franco) or start a relationship with a fellow troubled teen named Teddy (played by Jack Kilmer; son of Val Kilmer).

"Palo Alto" has yet to find a U.S. distributor, or release date, but you can check out the film's festival trailer, which is embedded above.

synopsis:
A dark drama centered on a group of teens with a penchant for finding trouble. (via imdb.com)

directed by   Gia Coppola

starring   Emma Roberts, James Franco, Jack Kilmer, Val Kilmer, Nat Wolff, Chris Messina, Zoe Levin, Claudia Levy, Keegan Allen, Don 'Father Guido Sarducci' Novello, Talia Shire

release date   2014

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Watch James Franco Get Sleazy With Troubled Teens in the ‘Palo Alto’ Trailer

While yesterday our own Kate Erbland brought you news of puzzling James Franco projects of yore, today the renaissance man is gracing us with the trailer for Palo Alto, the trailer for the film based on his collection of short stories.

Though written and directed by Gia Coppola (yes, related, granddaughter), Franco steps into the world he created for himself to play a soccer coach who seduces his teenage star, Emma Roberts. In other intertwined stories, we see teenagers dealing with drinking, drugs, heartbreak, and authority in the affluent suburbs of Palo Alto, California. It’s your typical coming of age fare, but through the pen and influence of Franco, is it going to be any different than your normal teen movies? Check out the trailer for yourself:

It’s going to be interesting to see where this lands Franco on the map; the world gives him a lot of crap for his choices, and ”Palo Alto” the collection of short stories received fairly mixed reviews when it was published (Publishers Weekly said one of the stories “reads like Patrick Bateman from ‘American Psycho’ fell into a ‘Catcher in the Rye’ remix”). Maybe the film will translate better?

Here’s the real question: exactly how many Coppolas exist, and are they all quietly training to become filmmakers  at this very moment?

Palo Alto premieres at the Telluride Film Festival and will then screen next month at the Toronto International Film Festival.

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