The actor and art-house prankster is set to play twin porn barons in the The Deuce, one of two pilots the Wire creator has signed up to make for the network

James Franco is adding another entry to his already-crammed IMDB page by signing up to play not one but two parts in the Wire creator David Simon’s new HBO project, a drama about the rise of the New York sex industry in the 1970s and 80s.

The Deuce will see Franco play two twin porn moguls embroiled in the city’s illicit pornography scene, and the dubious elements that went with it, including mob activity and the drugs trade. HBO has ordered a pilot to be written by Simon and longtime collaborator George Pelecanos. Michelle MacLaren, who has worked on Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones, is set to direct.

“Porn, prostitution, pimps, the Mob, after-hours nightlife, institutional corruption, and New York in its wild west heyday … it’s a world rich in character, and a fascinating story we’re eager to tell,” Pelecanos told the Hollywood Reporter.

The Deuce isn’t Simon’s only forthcoming HBO project. He has also signed up to create an as yet unnamed pilot set in present-day Capitol Hill, which will look at the role money plays in Washington governance. Carl Bernstein, the journalist who, along with Bob Woodward, uncovered the Watergate scandal in the 70s, will co-produce. Simon is also responsible for Show Me A Hero, an HBO mini-series documenting the real-life battles over public housing in Yonkers, New York, in the 1980s, which airs later this month.

Franco, meanwhile, will star next year in 11/22/63, a science-fiction series based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, about a man who travels back in time to prevent the Kennedy assassination. The series will air on the streaming service Hulu in 2016.