AceShowbiz -

James Franco debuts teaser trailer (via Deadline) for "Child of God", his third directorial effort this year after "Interior. Leather Bar." and "As I Lay Dying". Besides directing, Franco serves as producer and stars in it as Jerry. Fans, however, will not see him gracing the aforementioned video as the film's leading man appears solo instead.

The movie, which is adapted from Cormac McCarthy's 1973 novel, is headlined by Scott Haze, who also shows up in Franco's "As I Lay Dying". The teaser only sees him staring with someone reciting the book's title passage. "He was of German and Irish bloods. His name was Lester Ballard," the voiceover says. "A child of god, much like yourself, perhaps."

Set in mountainous Sevier County, Tennessee in the 1960s, "Child of God" introduces Haze as a dispossessed, violent man whose life is a disastrous attempt to exist outside the social order. Deprived of both his parents and a home, and with few other ties, Ballard descends to the level of a cave dweller, falling deeper into crime and degradation.

Co-produced by Vince Jolivette and Cormac McCarthy, it is also supported by Jim Parrack, Tim Blake Nelson, Fallon Goodson and more. Set to be screened in competition at Venice Film Festival, the pic will also be premiered in Toronto.