Hold onto your hats ladies and gentlemen, because The Gute may be coming back to movie screens near you; THR brings us the news that Steve Guttenberg and Samantha Mathis are the latest to join the cast of Affluenza, the Holy Rollers follow-up from director Kevin Asch and screenwriter Antonio Macia. The movie, which draws inspiration from the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald novel The Great Gatsby (which itself is getting the 3D, big-screen treatment this year), will take place right before the financial meltdown that nearly destroyed the United States in 2008.
According to Asch himself, Affluenza will deal with an American society that “was unprepared and unwilling to accept the death of the American dream.” Guttenberg and Mathis join a cast that includes Ben Rosenfield as main character Fisher Miller, Nicola Peltz, and Glee stalwart Grant Gustin, among many others. Affluenza begins shooting later this month in Great Neck, NY (where Asch grew up and where Fitzgerald got the inspiration for The Great Gatsby) on a budget of under 10 million dollars.
Affluenza sounds like a movie that could really hit home, especially to my generation in particular, and using the 2008 financial meltdown as a backdrop makes perfect fodder for exploring the themes that correspond to the “American Dream.” Having Guttenberg on board is just icing on the cake as far as I’m concerned and maybe this could get him back into more prominent roles. Unfortunately the fact that Holy Rollers has very middling reviews makes me a little nervous, but you know what they say: treat each movie as its own. I will say that the title is going to take some getting used to.
What are your thoughts on Affluenza?