Jonathan Kasdan, son of director Lawrence Kasdan, made his directorial debut back in 2007 with “In The Land Of Women.” The film was a middling success and probably wasn’t helped by casting Seth CohenAdam Brody in the lead role but the young director is prepping his next film and his some pretty lofty ambitions.
The writer/director has set up “The First Time” at Castle Rock, and the teen romance will focus “on the first weekend in the blooming love between a boy and a girl in high school.” Speaking about the project and why he brought it to Castle Rock the director says, “They made ‘Before Sunrise,’ which was a small film. This is thematically and almost structurally similar to that. It’s really just two large parts — a boy and a girl. They meet, and it’s the first throes of their relationship.” But it won’t all be sunshine and rainbows as Kasdan adds, “Before it gets bad, like they all inevitably do.”
But before you roll your eyes like we nearly did at another drippy teen romance, Kasdan says he’s aiming to avoid the traditional pitfalls of the genre, “It’s not broad comedy, it’s not real serious, either. It’s in that ‘Say Anything‘ kind of genre that is rare these days. I wanted to see a movie like that, so I thought I’d write one.”
We’re always up for fresh takes on familiar genres and we hope this one has what it takes. No word yet on casting or when production is slated to begin. [THR]
