VIDEO: First Look - James Franco in INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR

James Franco has partnered with filmmaker Travis Matthews on the upcoming film INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR, based upon inspired by William Friedkin's iconic film CRUISING. Check out a first look below!

The filmmakers say, "In order to avoid an X rating, 40 minutes of gay S&M footage was rumored to be cut and destroyed from the 1980 film, "Cruising." Inspired by the mythology of this controversial film, filmmakers James Franco and Travis Mathews collaborate to imagine their own lost footage.

The film itself is constructed as a play with boundaries remaining queer in subject and form. As much a film about filmmaking as it is about an exploration of sexual and creative freedom, "Interior. Leather Bar." defies easy categorization."

Says Franco of making the film:

"I wanted to be taken on a ride. I wanted to make a film that was as much about the experience as it was about making something. I wanted to go to a place of uncertainty, to set up parameters and then let the movie make itself. I wanted to explore the beauty of queerness, beautiful because it is counter to everything normal. As "straight" becomes the new "gay," I wanted to find places where the anti-normative still thrived. Travis became my partner and guide on a trip to the queer-side."