Acclaimed French director, Laurent Cantet is best known in the States for his Oscar nominated drama The Class, which was based on its star’s semi-autobiographical novel Entre les murs (translation: Between the walls). The film followed François Bégaudeau, a language and lit teacher, in his struggles to get through to his inner city middle school class, and was heralded for its raw and realistic look at the modern-day experiences of teachers and students.
Now The Playlist (via Screen Daily
) has revealed Cantet will be taking on his first English language production, an adaptation of the feminist Joyce Carol Oates novel Foxfire: Confessions Of A Girl Gang. This is not the book’s first film adaptation. As fans of early Angelina Jolie may remember, Foxfire was first adapted in 1996, though the 1950’s story of working class girls in upstate New York had been shifted to 1990’s suburbanites of the Pacific Northwest. The story in either case centers on a group of young women angry at their oppressive surroundings who form a gang, called Foxfire, to give them a sense of control and community in a society they feel rejects/ignores them.
Cantet’s take promises to be faithful to the novel’s setting, and with his talent for portraying the depths of teen emotions, his adaptation is already drawing buzz. Foxfire is in preproduction at present, but plans to begin shooting in Canada in the spring of 2011.
Are you looking forward to Cantet’s Foxfire? What did you think of the 1996 film?