With the past week seeing “Spring Breakers” star James Franco and the producers behind the non-Harmony Korine approved sequel “Spring Breakers: The Second Coming” squabbling, the project has now taken another interesting turn.
Members of Russian punks/activists Pussy Riot are set to meet with producers this week about possibly starring in the movie. Frontwomen Nadezhda “Nadya” Tolokonnikova and Maria “Masha” Alyokhina (pictured above, far left and far right) will consider the Jonas Akerlund directed project that is being sold as feminist statement.
“The fiction of ‘Spring Breakers’ never met with the reality of Pussy Riots — until now,” producer Chris Hanely told Variety. “Since there are some suggestions in the reporting on ‘Second Coming’ that it is a ‘weak’ or ‘lame’ sequel, the new Irvine Welsh screenplay has the strongest feminine voice of the ‘Spring Breakers’ characters so far. And Nadya and Maria of Pussy Riot are a powerful new voice of world feminism. We are all into radical innovations.”
It’s hard to tell how much of this is real or just a lot of Cannes week publicity. Following their release from prison, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina have been busy hitting the press circuit, while the producers behind ‘The Second Coming’ haven’t been shy about drumming up as much media interest as possible. That said, with the Pussy Riot members planning three days of meetings in Cannes, it’s clear they’re trying to figure out what their next move will be, and some kind of feature to act as a conduit for political action is likely tempting.
So, we’ll see how this plays out. Your move, Franco.
Update 5/18: Pussy Riot have denied any involvement in “Spring Breakers: The Second Coming”
We’re super surprised to hear this crazy stuff on any kind of talks about us and the Spring Breakers. Looks like somebody’s cheesy joke!
— Pussy Riot (@pussyrrriot) May 18, 2014
Besides, we don’t even have spring break in Russia – down here we get breaks from one prison term till the next one!
— Pussy Riot (@pussyrrriot) May 18, 2014