James Franco @ 'In the Valley of Elah' Premiere

James Franco attends the Los Angeles premiere of mystery thriller In the Valley of Elah at the ArcLight Cinema on Thursday in Hollywood.

In the Paul Haggis-directed film, Franco, 29, plays Sgt. Dan Carnelli. Here are the major plot points: The film tells the story of war veteran Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones), his wife Joan (Susan Sarandon) and the search for their son Mike (Jonathan Tucker), a soldier who recently returned from Iraq but has mysteriously gone missing, and the police detective (Charlize Theron) who helps in the investigation.

In the Valley of Elah is in limited theaters nationwide now.