Usually when a movie is remade into a musical on the big screen, it has already gone through an evolutionary step on stage (see: Hairspray). But Paramount and MGM have decided to skip the theatre part of the equation, shoving a tune-filled version of the 1983 comedy Valley Girl into development. And now it has a director, with Clay Weiner winning the job.
Weiner doesn’t exactly have the greatest cinematic CV – his one credit is 2010’s Fred: The Movie, based off of the YouTube videos created by Lucas Cruikshank, which is an object lesson in why some ‘net sensations really shouldn’t make the leap to film.
But the director also boasts a lengthy and successful commercials credit list, and he was willing to go the extra mile to snag the Valley Girl job ahead of other, more experienced filmmakers. When given the chance to present his ideas, he self-funded a three-minute demo reel of footage that showed off his vision for the movie, including choreographed dance routines set to ‘80s tunes.
The music is key as tracks from the original, including from The Plimsouls, The Psychedelic Furs and The Cars, will be used in the new film.
In case you’ve never caught the movie, Valley Girl saw Nicolas Cage and Deborah Foreman starring in the tale of a preppy young woman who takes a gamble and starts dating a rule-breaking punker. Cold-shouldered by her friends and ex-boyfriend, she learns a lesson about looking a little deeper for love. Plus, Cage gets to be predictably quirky.
It’s not as if the world was exactly crying out for a remake of this one, but a musical version is at least something different and Rachel Getting Married writer Jenny Lumet is now at work polishing the script. Wonder if they can convince Cage to make a cameo?