James Franco brought his adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s Child Of God to last year’s Venice Film Festival and his take on William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying to Cannes in May, but critics are saying his third directorial attempt to adapt a popular novel is his best and most ambitious project ever. The actor-director was finally recognized as a visionary filmmaker after screening his adaptation of Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury out-of-competition at this year’s Venice festival.

Franco is known for always having a variety of film projects in the works, all while also working on getting his PhD.

“I think my endeavours used to be driven by more of a need to prove myself,” said Franco. “But nowadays it’s not the same. I have enough work I’ve done that I’m proud of, and will always be proud of. I don’t have that same young man’s need to make a name for myself.”

He was given the Venice Film Festival’s “Glory to the Filmmaker Award,” a distinction given to a filmmaker who has made a significant contribution to the development of contemporary cinema, in recognition of his work on The Sound and the Fury. In typical Franco fashion, the actor-director used the award ceremony to shoot a scene for yet another film.

At the ceremony, the 36-year-old baffled spectators by appearing with a shaved head and a fake tattoo of Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift on the back of his head for his role in Zeroville. He was filmed taking the stage in front of a fake sign for 1977’s 35th Venice Film Festival for a scene in the upcoming film.

Franco told the Associated Press that Zeroville, which is adapted from Steve Erickson’s novel, is set in 1970s and ’80s Hollywood and follows “a guy who is so enamoured with movies that they become a religion to him.”