Thomas Dekker talks “The Walk of Fame”
Here’s a transcription of the video interview in which Thomas explains how the script came together, what it is about and confirms some of the actors attached:
It’s a screenplay that I wrote that sort of … I made this film “wh*re”… and it was the unscripted, sort of unfocused, very young, very nihilistic, very aggressive approach to this subject that fascinates me which is that Hollywood per square mileage has more prostitutes under the age of 21 than anywhere else in the country and I believe that after three years of interviewing and meeting with young prostitutes to be due to the fact of the hope of celebrity obsession and the dream of sort of success and wealth; and I’m fascinated by how this wish translates to dire consequences so I guess where “wh*re” was full of reckless abandon, we revisited the idea and wrote a far more mature and empathetic script and so I wrote this film and I actually met one of my executive producers Kevin Iwashina at the Toronto Film Festival when I was there with “Kaboom” and he was interested in the idea and he read the script and he loved it and took it to Christine Vachon, who I have been a huge fan of for years and years, with Killer Films and all of the amazing movies she’d done, and they both sort of became pioneers of this story so then we got our producers in tow and our executive producers were there and then we cast it and there are still two roles that are open, the one female lead was written for Rooney Mara who is totally down to do it but she’s off doing “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, so we’re kinda figuring that out, there’s a lot being figured out [...].
It’s sort of about two subjects, one that I’ve studied for years and years which is homelessness and prostitution ??? ??? American youth which is something that I don’t know personally but also this idea of how much do you give yourself over to the dream of what Hollywood now means, I guess, which is something very personally, I grown up in this since I was five so it’s a very emotional and impassioned idea and it is happening and it will be shot soon, we were gonna be shooting this month due to my series, if and when it is picked up, now shooting, and just amazing actors and actresses that I’ve had the courtesy of working with or meeting throughout the years. [...]
So far they’re proud to be attached, so I guess I can say, Shiloh Fernandez, Kyle Gallner, Haley Bennett, Nico Tortorella, Natasha Lyonne, Lena Headey, I think that might be it. We have a bunch of cameos too but that’s really not worth discussing. And the cinematographer from “Kaboom” ??? shooting it with me, we really get along and I sort of have this obsession that everybody behind the camera be a woman. Just because I feel the subject is really… needs that sensitivity and needs that sort of motherly approach because it’s really bleak and very stark and aggressive but I wanna tell it in a very poetic and gentle way
Here’s a transcription of the video interview in which Thomas explains how the script came together, what it is about and confirms some of the actors attached:
It’s a screenplay that I wrote that sort of … I made this film “wh*re”… and it was the unscripted, sort of unfocused, very young, very nihilistic, very aggressive approach to this subject that fascinates me which is that Hollywood per square mileage has more prostitutes under the age of 21 than anywhere else in the country and I believe that after three years of interviewing and meeting with young prostitutes to be due to the fact of the hope of celebrity obsession and the dream of sort of success and wealth; and I’m fascinated by how this wish translates to dire consequences so I guess where “wh*re” was full of reckless abandon, we revisited the idea and wrote a far more mature and empathetic script and so I wrote this film and I actually met one of my executive producers Kevin Iwashina at the Toronto Film Festival when I was there with “Kaboom” and he was interested in the idea and he read the script and he loved it and took it to Christine Vachon, who I have been a huge fan of for years and years, with Killer Films and all of the amazing movies she’d done, and they both sort of became pioneers of this story so then we got our producers in tow and our executive producers were there and then we cast it and there are still two roles that are open, the one female lead was written for Rooney Mara who is totally down to do it but she’s off doing “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, so we’re kinda figuring that out, there’s a lot being figured out [...].
It’s sort of about two subjects, one that I’ve studied for years and years which is homelessness and prostitution ??? ??? American youth which is something that I don’t know personally but also this idea of how much do you give yourself over to the dream of what Hollywood now means, I guess, which is something very personally, I grown up in this since I was five so it’s a very emotional and impassioned idea and it is happening and it will be shot soon, we were gonna be shooting this month due to my series, if and when it is picked up, now shooting, and just amazing actors and actresses that I’ve had the courtesy of working with or meeting throughout the years. [...]
So far they’re proud to be attached, so I guess I can say, Shiloh Fernandez, Kyle Gallner, Haley Bennett, Nico Tortorella, Natasha Lyonne, Lena Headey, I think that might be it. We have a bunch of cameos too but that’s really not worth discussing. And the cinematographer from “Kaboom” ??? shooting it with me, we really get along and I sort of have this obsession that everybody behind the camera be a woman. Just because I feel the subject is really… needs that sensitivity and needs that sort of motherly approach because it’s really bleak and very stark and aggressive but I wanna tell it in a very poetic and gentle way
