Of Mice and Men: James Franco and Chris O'Dowd

Academy Award nominee James Franco and BAFTA Award nominee Chris O'Dowd will mak their Broadway debut in a revival of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, directed by Tony Award winner Anna D. Shapiro.

Of Mice and Men will open at the Longacre Theatre on 16 Apr 2014, following previews from 19 Mar 2014, where it will play a strictly limited engagement through to 27 Jul 2014.

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is set against the backdrop of America's Great Depression and tells the story of the friendship between George (James Franco) and Lennie (Chris O'Dowd) who dream of buying a small farm of their own after years of ekeing out a living as itinerant farm workers. The two friends soon discover the flip side of their American Dream and the friendship is tested to its limits.

Franco's many film credits include playing "Aron Ralston" in "127 Hours" for which he was nominated for both an Oscar and BAFTA Awards, "Harry Osbourne/Green Goblin" in the Spider-Man movies, "Allen Ginsberg" in "Howl" and "Scott Smith" in "Milk." His TV credits include playing "Osbourne Silver" in "Hollywood Heights," "Franco" in "General Hospital" and "Daniel Desario" in "Freaks and Geeks."

Franco had originally planned to make his Broadway debut in a 2011 revival of Tennessee Williams' 'Sweet Bird of Youth,' directed by David Cromer and starring alongside Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman, but the show never materialized.

O'Dowd's TV credits include starring as "Roy Trenneman" in "The IT Crowd," "Dr. Cockroach" in "Monsters vs. Aliens," "Tom Chadwick" in "Family Tree" and "Thomas-John" in "Girls." Film credits include "Thor: The Dark World," "The Double," "The Sapphires," "3, 2, 1... Frankie Go Boom," "Friends with Kids" and "Bridesmaids."

Anna D. Shapiro (Director) returns to Broadway following her productions of 'August: Osage County' (Tony Award winner for Best Direction) and 'The Motherfucker with the Hat' (Tony Award nomination for Best Direction). Her production of Bruce Norris' 'Domesticated' is currently playing at Lincoln Center Theatre.

The revival is being produced on Broadway by David Binder, with Kate Lear, Darren Bagert, Adam Zotovich, Barbara Whitman and Latitude Link. 101 Productions, Ltd are the executive producers.

Of Mice and Men premiered on Broadway in 1937, in a production directed by George S. Kaufman, and which starred Wallace Ford as 'George' and Broderick Crawford as 'Lennie.'

It was revived on Broadway in 1974, starring Kevin Conway as 'George' and 'James Earl Jones' as 'Lennie,' with directon by Edwin Sherin.