Larry Clark has a new movie in the works and it’s not his remake of Neil Jordan’s classic ’80s post-gangster love story, “Mona Lisa” (post-gangster: he’s reformed, not so many bullets in this relationship and class tale, but it’s still great, fyi).
It’s a — SHOCKER — film about teenage disaffected youth. You didn’t see that one coming did you? The director already notoriously well-known for his shocking, yet insightful (“Kids”), sometimes exploitatively skeevy (“Ken Park”) and occasionally optimistic and bright (“Wassup Rockers”) examinations of teenage life has another adolescent tale on tap.
The new one is a $3.5 million dollar indie called, “Wild Child,” and is about a boy in LA who runs out on an abusive family according to ScreenDaily.
The project was apparently announced in Venice earlier this week. Clark and Evan Weiner wrote the script (who?) and shooting is set to begin this fall which means, “Mona Lisa,” is going on the backburner. Apparently casting will be announced after the Toronto Film Festival. Will Clark have names for this thing? It’s hard to say, that budget isn’t exactly huge, but actor fees are probably going down in this climate. They certainly are for bigger stars.
So what of “Mona Lisa” — originally a story of a British ex-convict turned loser-chauffeur to an enigmatic, high-class call girl, who he then falls for? Presumably transposed into an American setting, the new version is supposed to star Mickey Rourke and the always-goregous Eva Green. Apparently Rourke’s been trying to get Rolling Stone-r Mick Jagger to play the Michael Caine role in the film. Many that script and or funding isn’t ready. Still, as much as we dislike remakes, the talent there makes that one intriguing.
Meanwhile, hopefully “Wild Child,” isn’t as Calvin Klien porn-y as some of Clark’s other voyeuristic look at teens humping while their parents are at work.