Director Andrea Arnold has won plaudits for the UK-based likes of Red Road, Fish Tank and Wuthering Heights. We learned last May that she’s now set to head across the Atlantic for her latest, American Honey, and has landed Shia LaBeouf to star.
In keeping with at least two of her previous efforts, Arnold’s latest script once again explores a difficult coming-of-age experience. Arnold has already made several trips across the pond, to conduct research by immersing herself with a real-life magazine sales team. It’s a wonder she’s still around to make the film. Yet survive she has, and** American Honey** will focus on an Almost Famous-style story of a teenage girl who joins such a team and is plunged into the world of parties, law-bending and young love.
We’d guess that LaBeouf will not be taking that lead role, but instead play someone of influence who comes into contact with the main character. With any luck, his presence means Arnold can once again cast a newcomer and make the sort of discovery she found with Fish Tank’s Katie Jarvis.
There’s no sign of a start date yet, but the producers will be shopping the film’s rights at the Cannes Film Festival next month. It’s a place where Arnold has had plenty of success, as both Red Road and Fish Tank scored Jury prizes there in 2006 and 2009 respectively.