Nick Cassavetes (“John Q, “The Notebook”) is set to direct the U.S. remake of “The Boy With the Pink Pants,” which topped last year’s Italian box office and broke many hearts along the way. The film tells the harrowing true story of Andrea Spezzacatena, a 15 year-old boy who committed suicide in 2012 after enduring bullying at school and online.
The original movie, directed by Margherita Ferri, became a cultural phenomenon in Italy where it grossed more than $11.8 million from nearly two million moviegoers, beating Hollywood blockbusters such as “Wicked” and strong Italian auteurs such as Paolo Sorrentino with “Parthenope. The film has also inspired a musical stage version which is set to debut next February and is now poised to continue its journey in the U.S.
Tarak Ben Ammar, who produced and distributed the original movie with his company Eagle Pictures, will be producing the American remake with Mark Burg.
“The Boy with the Pink Pants” seems to be a perfect vehicle for Cassavetes who has demonstrated his talent for creating emotionally charged movies such as “The Notebook,” “John Q” and “Alpha Dog” which marked generations and have become cult.
“This movie has all the makings of a great film,” said Cassavetes. “Family, adolescence, first love, but also the terrible reminder that every child, no matter how put together they seem to be on the outside, is vulnerable, and needs to be looked after closely,” he continued, adding that the film also “features a strong and relatable female role.” “It’s a gut punch. It’s a powerhouse,” Cassavetes said.
“The Boy with the Pink Pants” follows a bright adolescent, Andrea, who enrolls in a new school and struggles to cope with his parents’ divorce while trying to make friends. Longing to fit in, the young man attempts by every mean to impress a popular classmate with whom he forms an ambiguous bond. A laundry incident that causes his red pants to become pink becomes the catalyst for the school bullying to intensify, pushing Andrea over the edge.
“Unfortunately, Andrea Spezzacatena’s story is not just an Italian story,” Ben Ammar said. “The tragic phenomenon of minors committing suicide due to bullying and cyberbullying has become a global scourge that cinema has a duty to address,” he continued.
Ben Ammar – who has now created a dedicated division at Eagle Pictures to produce films promoting social changes and aimed at teenagers — pointed out “The Boy With the Pink Pants” struck a chord in Italy, where “it made a difference for hundreds of thousands of young people.” He hopes that “with the American remake, we have the chance to achieve the same effect on millions of people worldwide.”
Burg, meanwhile, said was “left speechless” when he saw the Italian film. “The way it handled such a difficult subject with both lightness and depth, making it accessible to such a wide audience, truly moved me—and that’s the main reason so many people embraced it,” Burg said. “Our intention is to preserve the same delicate yet impactful tone, and the first director I thought of for this project was Nick Cassavetes, with whom I made ‘John Q,’ another story where emotions illuminate a very current social drama,” he continued.
Gina Cassavetes, who is co-producing the film, said, “I’m so proud to be a part of this project. It’s an extremely important story. One that gives us a peek into the new world our youth are growing up in and how as a a family we navigate loving our children the best way we can, when the world can be so cruel”
The screenplay for the remake will be written by Roberto Proia, who was nominated at the Italian Oscars for best adapted screenplay for the original film, and Michael Gallagher.
The American remake will transpose the story to the United States, most likely in a small town; and will flesh out the character of Andrea’s mother, Teresa Manes, whose unique relationship with her son is one of the film’s emotional anchors. Since his tragic death, Manes has become an advocate for anti-bullying initiative and also wrote a book about her son’s experience.
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