James Franco to play twins in porn drama

James Franco has signed up to play identical twins in a new porn-centered drama from The Wire creator David Simon.

The 127 Hours star will front the project, titled The Deuce, which will be set in the late 1970s and early 1980s in New York City. The show will explore the legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry, as well as the twin brothers' involvement with members of the Mafia.

Simon wrote the pilot with his The Wire and Treme collaborator George Pelecanos, who told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour in California on Thursday (06Aug15) the series is all about "porn, prostitution, pimps, the Mob, after-hours nightlife, institutional corruption, and New York in its Wild West heyday."

Breaking Bad's Michelle MacLaren is set to direct the pilot, while Franco will serve as an executive producer.