It seems that the producers' eagerness to have the Russian artists in 'Spring Breakers: The Second Coming' is only one-sided.
- May 19, 2014
AceShowbiz - Pussy Riot dispelled rumor that they were in discussions to star in "Spring Breakers: The Second Coming". The group's Nadezhda "Nadya" Tolokonnikova and Maria "Masha" Alyokhina say, "This news is ridiculous. It's not true we're in talks with 'Spring Breakers' producers and we have no plans to do that."
Producer Chris Hanley previously told Variety that the producers and director Jonas Akerlund were coming to meet Nadya and Maria at the Cannes Film Festival to discuss being in the movie. "The fiction of 'Spring Breakers' never met with the reality of Pussy Riots - until now," Chris said.
"Since there are some suggestions in the reporting on 'Second Coming' that it is a 'weak' or 'lame' sequel, the new Irvine Welsh screenplay has the strongest feminine voice of the 'Spring Breakers' characters so far. And Nadya and Maria of Pussy Riot are a powerful new voice of world feminism. We are all into radical innovations."
He continued, "Pussy Riot somehow came into being concomitant with the original 'Spring Breakers,' which was pure coincidence. The original 'Spring Breakers' theme was the plying away of the facade of a new American dream of becoming rich by any means."
But it seemed the interest was only one-sided since the Russian artists tweeted, "We're super surprised to hear this crazy stuff on any kind of talks about us and the Spring Breakers. Looks like somebody's cheesy joke! Besides, we don't even have spring break in Russia - down here we get breaks from one prison term till the next one!"
Hanley previously fired back at James Franco, the star of the first film, over his criticisms that the sequel was a "terrible" idea. Calling the actor hypocrite, the producer said, "Let's see if I can remember all of the sequels James has done," before listing "Oz The Great and Powerful", "Spider-Man", and "Rise of the Planet of the Apes".
"And he's pushing hard to help set up the Pineapple Express sequel," Hanley scoffed. "I guess he thinks only 'too big to fail studio films' are the artistically valid ventures."
Franco slammed the sequel for excluding Harmony Korine, the director and writer of the original. "This is not being done with Harmony Korine or my consent," he wrote on his social media. "The original was wholly Harmony's creation and these producers are capitalizing on that innovative film to make money on a weak sequel."
"It will be a terrible film, with a horrible reason d'etre: to make money off someone else's creativity," he added. "Can you imagine someone making the sequel to 'Taxi Driver' without (director Martin) Scorsese and (Robert) DeNiro's consents? Insanity!"
"Whoever is involved ... is jumping on board a poison ship," he said. "I'm speaking up for Harmony and his original vision and for any creative person who cares about preserving artistic integrity."
