Taglines: He Wasn’t a Rebel Until He Found His Cause.
Nick Twisp, a 16-year-old teen, who is forced to spend a week in “cabin” in a trailer park which isn’t a cabin, it’s a trailer. While staying the week there, Nick meets the girl of his (wet) dreams, Sheeni. Nick, a lonely virgin, who hasn’t kissed, held hands, or had sex with a girl. Sheeni and Nick suddenly become intimate and Sheeni admits her really tall, sexy, French, poet, and extremely smart boyfriend.
While his mother and step-father where looking for a new trailer, Sheeni and Nick purchase a dog using a Subway coupon. The dog, Albert (pronounced Al-beare), is suddenly know as their love child. Sheeni is forced to get rid of Albert because of sins (of ripping up a bible), Nick takes Albert to live with him. Nick and Sheeni make a plan to stay together. Nick must be bad, SuperBad, to be able to live by Sheeni.
When they arrive home, Jerry, Nick’s Step-Father, dies of a heart attack. His mother begins to date a cop. Nick decides that he must get to Sheeni as possible. Nick causes a city-disaster by setting his mother car on fire, so that he can live with his divorced father (who happens to live by Sheeni). While talking to Sheeni on the phone, Nick tells her all the bad things he did, but while admitting all the crimes; Sheeni’s mom was listening to it on the phone.
When Nick arrives to Sheeni’s trailer, her mother tells him that he’s the devil and is going to hell and that Sheeni is getting sent to boarding school. Sheeni tells him that it is not punishment, it is helping her with her dream. Nick and his (newly) friend go on the road to get to Sheeni. When he arrives, he is invited to spend the night. Nick’s bad side is convincing him to have sex. The bad side took over his good side and they begin to have intercourse, but are caught and forced to leave. Nick sends a letter to a roommate/friend of Sheeni, that tells her to drug Sheeni with a sleeping pill so that kicked out of boarding school.
Youth in Revolt is a 2009 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Miguel Arteta and written by Gustin Nash. Based on C.D. Payne’s epistolary novel of the same name, the film stars Michael Cera and Portia Doubleday, with Justin Long, Ray Liotta, and Steve Buscemi in supporting roles.
Youth in Revolt opened on January 8, 2010 in 1,873 theaters and grossed $6,888,334 in its opening weekend, ranking #9 in the domestic box office.[4] By the end of its run on March 25, the film had grossed $15,281,286 domestically and $4,369,807 overseas for a worldwide total of $19,651,093.[3] Based on its $18 million budget,[2] the film was a box office failure.
The film was in production as of February 6, 2009 when re-shoots were being filmed in Shreveport, LA. Newcomer Portia Doubleday has been cast as Nick’s love interest Sheeni; Steve Buscemi as George, Nick’s greedy and temperamental father; Jean Smart as Estelle, Nick’s erratic mother; and Ray Liotta as Estelle’s fascist boyfriend Oakland PD Officer Lance Wescott.
About the Production
C.D. Payne’s “Youth In Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp,” and its subsequent installments “Revolting Youth: The Further Journals of Nick Twisp,” and “Young and Revolting: The Continental Journals of Nick Twisp” have amassed a devoted, loyal fan base since the first novel’s debut in 1993. Payne’s readers identified with the unique yet relatable coming of age of Nick Twisp.
Among the series’ admirers was Miranda Freiberg, the daughter of a friend and frequent business associate of YOUTH IN REVOLT producer David Permut. Freiberg (who is a co-producer on YOUTH IN REVOLT) praised the novel to Permut, who read and fell in love with the book based on her recommendation. “Fortunately for me, Miranda Freiberg had a summer vacation and this was the book that she wound up reading from her required reading list. I’m the lucky recipient of being able to produce the movie as a result of Miranda.”
Permut embraced the book’s iconic, irreverent main character and the unusual world in which he lived. “Nick is an intellectual and knowledgeable well beyond his years. He’s like an alien on a distant planet populated by with his mother, his father, his stepdad and this eclectic group of people. His quest is to find the key to the door to get out of this environment.”
Screenwriter Gustin Nash had a similar enthusiasm for Payne’s books and for the character of Nick Twisp. “I had writing envy after reading it. I begged my manager and my agent to somehow get me involved,” Nash recalls. “My parents were divorced when I was young, so I immediately sympathized with Nick being passed back and forth between his parents. I was also attracted to the very simple Odyssey type story-line. A boy meets a girl on vacation and spends the rest of the story trying to get back to her.”
The process of choosing moments from the celebrated novel and adapting them for a screenplay proved difficult for Nash, who attempted to pull directly from the book whenever possible. “It was an art of omission. I ‘saw’ the movie when I read the novel for the first time. I literally highlighted when I found something that was movie-worthy. There are all these great set pieces in the book: the Berkeley fire, the trip to Ukiah, the trip to Santa Cruz, the school, and the Thanksgiving scene.”
The script won the approval of the writer of its source material. “It’s such a long book that they have to distill it down fairly radically,” Payne says. “That part is a little painful for the author, but I think it has captured the essence of the book and the characters.”
Permut sent the script to Miguel Arteta, director of THE GOOD GIRL and CHUCK AND BUCK. Permut had been searching for the right collaboration since the director made his debut with STAR MAPS. Arteta explains: “David had pursued me since STAR MAPS. He grew up in LA and that was his summer job. He brought me in in 1997 and said ‘I want to work with you.’ For eleven years he has been trying to find things for us to do.” The collaboration was ultimately worth the wait for both producer and director.
Continue Reading and View the Theatrical Trailer
Youth in Revolt (2010)
Directed by: Miguel Arteta
Starring by: Michael Cera, Ray Liotta, Steve Buscemi, Jean Smart, M. Emmet Walsh, Adhir Kalyan, Portia Doubleday, Justin Long, Zach Galifinakis, Rooney Mara, Jade Fusco, Lise Lacasse, Ari Graynor
Screenplay by: Gustin Nash, Miguel Arteta, Michael Cera
Production Design by: Tony Fanning
Cinematography by: Chuy Chávez
Film Editing by: Andy Keir, Pamela Martin
Costume Design by: Nancy Steiner
Set Decoration by: Cynthia La Jeunesse
Art Direction by: Gerald Sullivan
Music by: John Swihart
MPAA Rating: R for sexual content, language and drug use.
Studio: Dimension Films
Release Date: January 8, 2010
