So I've been watching AMERICAN GODS – based on Neil Gaiman's novel of the same name – and it's pretty fucking amazing. Beautiful, surreal, well-acted, and with a great and interesting story. Sure, while there's still no SANDMAN, I'd argue Neil Gaiman has had a decent go at adaptations of his stories. I mean, STARDUST is also delightful, and while not perfect the NEVERWHERE TV series was fun as well.
So I'm always excited when a Gaiman project is announced. And there's a new one coming up from HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH director John Cameron, starring Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp, and Nicole Kidman in punk garb, called HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES – adapted from one of Gaiman's short stories. Here's the official synopsis:
How to Talk to Girls at Parties takes audiences to an exotic and unusual world: suburban London in the late ’70s. Under the spell of the Sex Pistols, every teenager in the country wants to be a punk, including our hopeless hero Enn (Sharp). Crashing local punk queen Boadicea’s party, Enn discovers every boy’s dream – gorgeous foreign exchange students. When he meets the enigmatic Zan (Fanning), it’s love at first sight.
But these teens are, in fact, aliens from outer space, sent to Earth to prepare for a mysterious rite of passage. When their dark secret is revealed, the love-struck Enn must turn to Boadicea (Kidman) and her followers for help in order to save the girl he loves from certain death. When the punks take on the aliens, neither Enn’s nor Zan’s universe will ever be the same again.
Sounds wild. And here's some teasers for the film from the director, star Elle Fanning, and Neil Gaiman himself:
Now I've never read this particular short story from Gaiman, so I can't tell you how well it does – or doesn't – hold up. However, the visuals are cool, I loved director Cameron's HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, and the story sounds bonkers enough to get me enticed. Count me in!
But what do you Schmoes think? Sound off below!
Meanwhile, HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES has no official release date, but will come out sometime later this year.