Alan Alda, Mary Louise Parker, David Strathairn, and Paul Rudd have signed on to star in Howl, the Allen Ginsberg biopic already starring James Franco as Ginsberg, which will focus on Ginsberg’s 1950s-era obscenity trial:

Among the real-life characters featured in the film are prosecuting attorney Ralph McIntosh (Strathairn), Judge Clayton Horn (Alda), prosecution witness Professor David Kirk (Daniels), radio personality and prosecution witness Gail Potter (Parker) and literary critic and defense witness Luther Nichols (Rudd).

I know that we learned last week that biopics always suck and are the worst, but this movie is exempt because of the “limited event biopic” clause. This list of actors reads like a list of some of the best actors, and also Jeff Daniels. And I love the poem “Howl.” Is it okay to still love the poem “Howl”? Oh who cares, Paul Rudd forget your underwear we’re free!