In the wake of controversial actor Doug Hutchison (“Lost,” “24,” and “The Green Mile”) being replaced in Writer/Producer/Director Richard O’Sullivan’s “The Genesis of Lincoln” by Robin Spriggs (most recently of the USA Network series “Necessary Roughness”), new cast and creative team members have joined the edgy indie satire that is being rushed into production for a Cannes premiere.
Taking over the role of pop star Neely Pepridge is twenty-year-old Castille Landon. A real-life pop star/actress in her own right, Castille is the lead singer of Adam 812, which has opened for the likes of Colbie Caillat, Third Eye Blind, Mitchel Musso (from “Hannah Montana”), and the legendary K.C. & The Sunshine Band. She is one of the stars of the upcoming series “Worker’s Comp” with Morgan Fairchild and Robert Carradine.
“Castille’s the antithesis of everything you think you know about the modern day teen idol,” says O’Sullivan. “She’s a super intelligent, college-educated girl who you’re more likely to find in a corner reading Nietzsche than choking on her own vomit in some disco parking lot. An absolute pro, an old soul, and a fearless performer and artist. She shows up to work, she can be bonded, and we don’t have to worry about including bail money in the budget.”
Coming aboard the project in the role of purity ring-wearing boy band member Jack Rose is newcomer Ethan Itzkow, who has been compared to such actors as Shia LaBeouf and Jesse Eisenberg.
Joining O’Sullivan behind the camera is Emmy-winning Cinematographer Sergei Franklin, whose resume includes work on such films as the Oscar-nominated “The Messenger” (starring Woody Harrelson & Ben Foster), Tyler Perry’s “For Colored Girls” (starring Janet Jackson & Whoopi Goldberg), “P.S. I Love You” (starring Hilary Swank & Gerard Butler) and the Oscar-winning “The Reader” (starring Ralph Fiennes & Kate Winslet), as well as music videos for such artists as 50 Cent and The Roots.
O’Sullivan, who spent a year trying to get a proposed Lindsay Lohan “comeback vehicle” off the ground, wrote “The Genesis of Lincoln” as a scathing parody of show biz culture.
“Everything’s a shitty reality show or a scandal these days…or a shitty reality show about a scandal,” says the New York-based filmmaker, who has himself turned down reality show offers. “I’m so goddamn sick of it I wanna poke my own eyes out sometimes. God bless Daniel Craig for what he said about the Kardashians. There comes a point when you gotta celebrate people for their works and not just because they’re famous for being famous. A celebrity used to be someone who was renowned because of some great art they created, or a life-saving drug they discovered, or a heroic act. Now people are celebrities because they flail around in their own shit on a bullshit TV show. This film lampoons that whole culture in the most vicious and unrepentant manner possible. We’re gonna piss off a lot of people and quite frankly, Scarlett, I don’t give a fuck.”
“The Genesis of Lincoln” is being produced by Sandra Rayne Garcia and Gilberto Vera and will lens in New York in early 2012.
She-Rain,a Southern novel whose love triangle sweeps across the 20th century, just took a huge step toward major motion picture, in the hands of a 20-year-old Harvard wonder-kid. Castille Landon adapted the book into a screen work that proves a young woman can walk around with a beautifully old soul. Her screenplay runs deep, hewing close to the book, yet wonderfully refining the story for the best of movie making. The adaptation cleaves to the truth that a human heart will take no orders. It will not be told who to love, how well, or when to stop. It takes most people a lifetime to get this. Some never do. Castille not only gets it, she writes it with adventure and the power of immutable love. Her She-Rain is a story of young love aging well, through the deeply human struggles of crunching poverty, extreme wealth, and the heroism of people who change the world by living far ahead of their time. Castille has a writer’s heart and the skills of an actress who’s bound to gather red carpet fibers on her shoes. Harvard has another history-maker on its hands. Like Mark Zuckerberg with Facebook, Castille proves young minds can excite and alter the course of human life way before the world expects. Remember the name Castille Landon. Watch for her She-Rain, coming soon.