<P> In a 1992 interview, McCarthy stated that the character Ballard was based on an unnamed historical figure . Despite its surreal focus, Child of God contains much unobtrusive historical detail about Sevier County, Tennessee, including references to local Ku Klux Klan - like groups of the 1890s known as White Caps and Bluebills . Ballard's grandfather is said to have been a White Cap . </P> <P> In October 2007, Child of God found itself at the center of a teaching controversy at Jim Ned High School in Tuscola, Texas . Kaleb Tierce, the Advanced Placement English teacher and coach at Jim Ned, assigned a book report for which a 14 - year - old student selected this title . Tierce was placed on paid administrative leave when the mother of the student complained . The case was investigated, and Tierce was not charged, but his teaching contract was not renewed . </P> <P> In February 2012, James Franco began shooting a film adaptation of Child of God in Hillsboro, West Virginia . The film stars Scott Haze as Lester Ballard and Jim Parrack as the Sevier County lawman Deputy Cotton . The movie was selected to be screened in the official competition at the 70th Venice International Film Festival and was an official selection of the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival . The film received mixed to negative reviews, holding a rating of 38% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes . The critical consensus states: "An obviously reverent adaptation that fails to make a case for the source material being turned into a movie, Child of God finds director James Franco outmatched by Cormac McCarthy's novel ." </P>

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