Film: Jack And Diane

[tribal girl]

Writer/director - Bradley Rust Gray
Exec. producer - Scott Rudin
Producers - So Yong Kim, Bradley Rust Gray, Karin Chien, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudson
Starring - Ellen Page (Diane), Olivia Thirbly (Jack)
Animation - The Brothers Quay
Creature FX - Gabe Bartalos
Music - Múm

Synopsis - Jack and Diane, two teenage girls, meet in New York City and spend the night kissing ferociously. Diane's charming innocence quickly begins to open Jack's tough skinned heart. But, when Jack discovers that Diane is leaving the country in a week she tries to push her away. Diane must struggle to keep their love alive while hiding the secret that her newly awakened sexual desire is giving her werewolf-like visions.

Ellen Page will star in Jack And Diane playing the lead role of Diane and that of her twin sister, Karen. Page and Gray will be developing Diane's character collaboratively and together will be hand-making all of Diane's outfits. She is also helping to compile the inspiration for The Brother Quay's animation, which will take place inside Diane's body

Olivia Thirbly will be bringing a soft vulnerability to Jack's tough exterior. She is currently sharpening her skateboarding skills for the film and learning how to spit long distances

The Brothers Quay will be unearthing the interior of Diane's body. These animated moments surface throughout the film at times of charged emotional stress. The world within Diane is a combination of blood, hair and teeth. The hair growing between her organs creates a braided rope that spells out the title of the film, and other suggestive patterns.

The Brothers Quay are two of the world's most original filmmakers. Identical twins who were born in Pennsylvania in 1947, Stephen and Timothy Quay display a passion for detail, a breathtaking command for color and texture, and an uncanny use of focus and camera movement which make their films unique and instantly recognizable. They are masters of miniaturization and on their tiny sets have created an unforgettable world, suggestive of a landscape of long-repressed childhood dreams

Gabe Bartalos will be creating Diane's transformation into the werewolf creature. As well, he will be casting Jack's body and organs for the mutilation scenes.

Gabe is the creator of the elaborate make-up effects for artist/filmmaker Matthew Barney's lush CREMASTER CYCLE. He also just finished Barney's recent project, Drawing Restraint 9

Werewolf design - The animatronic design for the "werewolf creature" in Jack And Diane will be based on a skinned polar bear head.

Since the creature emerges from within Diane's sexual frustration it opens the possibilities of a new interpretation for a traditional werewolf.

With this in mind, Bartalos and Gray intend to create an animal that's never been seen before. A creature that stems from Diane's inner desires, and also links The Brothers Quay's unique vision of the world inside Diane

When I first read the synopsis to this I thought it sounded like absolute trash. But after reading up a bit more from filmsalt.com I must say I got more and more interested. I'm personally a big fan of stop-motion animation, and after checking out some of The Brothers Quay's work on youtube (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=UdLpsYvKFUo&feature=related) I was quite impressed, and again, excited by the idea of what this film could be.

http://filmsalt.com/soandbrad/sbjacdian.htm
http://imdb.com/title/tt0850677/

 

[drew345]

ellen page is a very good actress I bet it ends up being good

 

[Daisybabe]

If this is going to any kind of box office at all, they need to change the name. No one will ever go see a movie that is forever tainted by the spectre of John Mellencamp.

 

[tribal girl]

UPDATE:

With her much-acclaimed teen-pregnancy comedy Juno landing in theaters today, Ellen Page's sudden success is getting a long-gestating project off the ground. Some time ago — before her role in Juno, or even Hard Candy — Page was attached to a project called Jack and Diane, an off-beat drama about a love affair between two teenage girls, written by Bradley Rust Gray, whose directorial credits include an underseen (but critically admired) Icelandic film called Salt and the Will Smith comedy Hitch (nobody's perfect, right?) a short called Hitch (oops!). But, despite Gray's résumé and Page's burgeoning reputation, the production remained in development hell. Even the involvement of super-producer Scott Rudin couldn't help it off the ground. One reason might've been the film's misleading synopsis on IMDb, which says, "Diane must struggle to keep their love alive while hiding the secret that her newly awakened sexual desire occasionally turns her into a werewolf." Really, though, Jack and Diane is a love story that includes animated scenes of werewolfery (by the reputable Quay brothers), which represent Diane's emotional turmoil.

Now that that's been cleared up, things are finally looking good for Jack and Diane. Last week at the Gotham Awards, Page — shortly before accepting her trophy for breakthrough actor — told us the movie is finally, actually happening, with Gray signed on to direct. "We might shoot it this spring," she said. "It's all been finalized recently." —Eric Kohn