Franco's student film set for release

NEW YORK, March 27 (UPI) -- Writer, director and actor James Franco's New York University thesis film is to get a theatrical release next month in Manhattan, his representatives said.

Co-starring Michael Shannon, Stacey Miller and Dave Franco, "The Broken Tower" is to screen April 27 at the IFC Center.

The film is about gifted American poet Hart Crane whose battles with depression and alcoholism ended with him jumping off the deck of a ship in 1932. He was 32 when he died.

Franco, 33, is best known for his roles in the movies "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," "127 Hours," "Pineapple Express" and the Spider-Man trilogy, as well as for his work in the TV shows "Freaks and Geeks" and "General Hospital."

He also has earned various degrees in literature, art and film from UCLA, Columbia University, New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Brooklyn College, North Carolina's Warren Wilson College, Yale University and Rhode Island School of Design.