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American Idiot (The Film, Green Lit for HBO)


LaughingClock

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(most of the info about the movie is from iMDBpro)

SUMMARY

The music of Green Day weaves in and out of a story about three friends who grew up together in the same small town.

I was putting this in RGDN thread but decided this will probably be talked about until the day it's released and for probably a long time after so thought it was deserving of a thread.  I am almost certain that you fanatics know all the info that I am going to put in here and probably forever ago but I'll be getting new info as it comes and I thought I would put a repository of info and have a place to put new info as it comes out.  

Again, I don't know how much of this is new news to you guys because you follow everything but Green Day are deep into development of the Tom Hanks produced (along with all the boys getting a producer credit) and a 5 time Emmy award winner by the name of Gary Goetzman (who is a legend out here in Los Angeles, he was the Executive Producer of Silence of the Lambs).  

So Producers:

  • Billie Joe Armstrong
  • Mike Dirnt
  • Tre' Cool
  • Gary Goetzman
  • Tom Hanks (he bought the option on his massively successful PlayTone years ago during the American Idiot Broadway run).


It is being produced for the small screen but for HBO which is cinema for TV for the uninitiated.  It's budget is huge for a TV movie.  It's almost a sin to call it a TV movie as "it's not TV, it's HBO".  I almost said that without thinking of their tag.  Lol.  

Writers:

  • Billie Joe Armstrong (music book)
  • Michael Mayer (music book)
  • Dustin Lance Black (screenplay) - probably best known for "Milk"


Billie is slated to play St. Jimmy.  There is no release date scheduled at the moment.  The screenplay is in rewrites.

Here is what I found SO interesting and I am SURE that you guys must know this because after I heard it, I came home and found a ton of info on it and GDA was sited as a source on many Twitter hashtags so I am assuming you guys know this but outside of the USA, I don't know if people know how cool what I'm about to drop is and God I hope it happens.

I am a HUGE fan of Hamilton (I know, who isn't?) but I have seen it 6 times now. 2 in NY and 4 in LA and recently I was lucky enough to speak to Lin Manuel Miranda and found out he is a HUGE fan of Green Day and he loves American Idiot musical and Tom Kitt.  I didn't want to geek out on him more than I already was so I didn't dive too far into it but came home and scoured the net and found a wealth of info.  When he heard about the adaptation he immediately took to Twitter and...

http://news.radio.com/2016/10/06/lin-manuel-miranda-green-day-movie/

(first, an old Twitter post from him when In The Heights (his first Broadway show) came out and by the time 2016 rolled around, Hamilton was a smash hit that has redefined Broadway in every way a play/musical can.  

lmmbwayidiot.png

On finding out it was green lit:  (Now, understand, THE ENTIRE world is after LMM right now). Even Disney. He wrote the soundtrack to Moana.  He wrote the Cantina music for JJ Abrams "The Force Awakens" when JJ was at a showing of Hamilton and he said jokingly "hey if you need any Cantina music, I'm your guy", and JJ said "I DO NEED some cantina music".  This might be lost on non Star Wars fans (I mean old school ones).  He also has more tweets about going to Green Day show after becoming a fan during the musical run.  

b12QZDW.jpg

So why am I telling you all this?  Well apparently he wants in and if he was AT ALL involved, the spectacle would be huge.  He is pretty much the prodigy, genius, creative entity of the entire world right now.  Hamilton is running in 5 cities and is currently about to open at Victoria Palace Theater in London so look for a West End production of it there and it's about the Revolutionary War.  I'll be there in December to catch hopefully the opening night but if not, the opening week.  Expect tickets to be unattainable.  I am dying to see it in London since it's about the American Revolution.

Here are a couple tid bits from Hamilton:

It all started about 9 years ago when he was invited to the White House Poetry Jam when the WH was full of cool mother fuckers instead of Trump mother fucker.  He was asked to perform a song from In The Heights (his first and a massive success in its own right but he did this, a song about a now well known founding father of the US, Alexander Hamilton who he says "embodies Hip Hop".  A self starter who came from nothing and made a name for himself through grit and grime. I'm about to annoy everyone that wants to hear only about Green Day but when I found out that LMM wanted to be a part of a Green Day film, my two favorite things in the world converged and I got juiced.

Ok, I'll leave it at that.

As I hear stuff, I will post it here.  There is nothing in this that can't be found on the net but I promise I will post stuff as it comes out.  I don't know right now how this will effect the recording of the next album.  The word is that they want to drop the next one before the film for a few reasons, most of them promotional but it all depends on the time frame.  Even though it's deep into production, the making of a movie is an arduous process that can take years sometimes (but once it's rolling, and it is, it tends to speed up).  For sure, the long part of the wait is over.  

Now if LMM is in it, it would be sick.  I could think of several roles for him to play.

rs-243011-R1263_Cover.jpgcover-7edb39f5-8606-441f-b4ce-981afc5eee

And not for nothing, their hatred of Trump is equally matched.  LMM is from NYC but his parents are native Puerto Ricans and this is what he said of Trump when he questioned the mayor during the current crisis caused by the storm which so plays into the song "Hurricane" from Hamilton.

lin-manuel-miranda-donald-trump-tweet-09

Here is the chronology of where we are right now on AI THE MUTTA FUGGIN FILM! :)

 

Mar 23, 2010 Optioned (again by Tom Hank's PlayTone)

Apr 13, 2011 Treatment (a treatment is a short story version of the long form script)

 Scripting

Oct 16, 2011

Script

May 2, 2012 

Nov 26, 2012

Development Unknown

May 16, 2013

Dec 4, 2013

Jun 11, 2014

Dec 13, 2014

Jul 8, 2015

Jan 11, 2016

Jul 19, 2016

Jan 20, 2017 

Oct 17, 2017 Full Green Light from HBO

***** Sorry this was so Hamilton heavy and that you guys were hoping for more info than this but there is no more.  This is it right now.  There is lots to come real soon though and I will post it in this thread as it comes.  Please, if you know something I haven't posted, please do.  In the meantime, this thread can chill but we will have an AI film for sure and I'll keep updates in here no matter if this thread sinks or not.

Yeah boy!

3.161954.jpg  150929.jpg

 

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Awesome @LaughingClock thanks for that.  Really good to hear this and about LMM as you call him, he's new to me (in UK so have heard of the buzz around Hamilton obviously, but missed him) but this sounds great, and he sounds great, he could be really good in it.  I always felt that John Gallagher's voice was not really up to the job, sorry if that's heresay!  Every time I saw footage of Billie in the St Jimmy role, he just blew the others out of the water so much that I think they need to cast someone really strong alongside him.   Eighteen months ago, I thought we would never get this film now, the time had passed but with Trump in the WH it feels as relevant, if not more so, than ever.  Please keep us posted!

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Oh this sounds fantastic! Something timed for a fifteenth anniversary release of the album in fall of 2019. The film would take on a whole new relevancy today and they could update the visuals to match. LMM would make it a must see across the board and it would be huge. I’m concerned about Billie pulling it off at 46-47 years of age but makeup can do wonders and he still looks good.  

I might actually have to subscribe to HBO for this. Hopefully it will also be available for purchase on iTunes. Does anyone know if HBO films are available right away to buy or do they make you wait a while?

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2 hours ago, Billie Joe Armstrong said:

I'm still not 100% covinced this will happen but it sure would be cool. 

A film is never 100% until it’s not only shooting but in the can so your concern is not unwarranted.

@pacejunkie punk first of all, until this second I always read “peace-junkie” lol. HBO is easy to get online via HBO Now. 

Not something you need concern yourself with. Way early. Put it this way. It’s like going to buy iMusic for their next album. Still gonna be a while, again if at all. Never 100%

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I thought about the film only yesterday. Amazing how GDC always brings up the things that have just crossed my mind :lol:

Originally, I didn't want to see a film adaption of AI but now I have to say, bring it on!

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51 minutes ago, LaughingClock said:

@pacejunkie punk first of all, until this second I always read “peace-junkie” lol. 

Heh. Here’s the fact nobody knows: the name comes from when I was an online superfan of the show Lost. Pace is for the character Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan) who was a junkie.  I just added the punk to show my Green Day love and I was an OG punk fan in the seventies. The More You Know...

ETA: and on topic, if LMM wants to be in it, even if there are several potential parts for him why would you not make him the lead and cash in on that?  To give him a small supporting role or cameo would be a wasted opportunity.

 

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I'd just like to say that Hamilton is amazing and this makes Lin go up even more in my mind.

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2 minutes ago, Libertine Angel said:

I'd just like to say that Hamilton is amazing and this makes Lin go up even more in my mind.

I know. It feels really good too to see LMM creator of Hamilton (Hamilton!) call BJA a musical genius. 💚 

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1 hour ago, LaughingClock said:

A film is never 100% until it’s not only shooting but in the can so your concern is not unwarranted.

 

Hell a film isn’t 100% even if it is filmed and finished 

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My daughter is a good example of why they should cast LMM as the lead. She’s a theatre geek but not a GD fan but if he had a big part she would see it. It would bring in a whole new slew of fans like the musical did the first time.

Wouldn’t it be ironic with rock falling out of the mainstream if Green Day were responsible for bringing about a punk revival not once but twice in their careers? 

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It’s a mutual admiration society with those two.  I’m sure they’d love to work together. Could you just see them?

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I also think LMM is an amazing artist and sounds like an amazing person too (from what I see on his social media). I have yet to see Hamilton but I have listened to the cast recording and i find it brilliant. I have tickets to see it next May, sad to have missed the original cast (especially the original Aaron Burr and Angelica) but still very excited for next year.

With that being said, I don't think LMM is very good of a singer but he is a great rapper. So I doubt he would suit the Johnny part. I'm not sure which part would be suitable for him but there is for sure something that he could be great in. I love it that he is a GD fan and seems very excited about the movie. If he somehow gets involved i'm sure, with his great creative mind, he can definitely bring a lot to the project.

@pacejunkie punk: I am a huge Lost fan. I saw the show only 2 years ago or something and it's become my favorite show ever. I still think about it from time to time.

Very glad to see a thread talking about 3 things I'm very passionate about: Hamilton, Lost and of course Green Day!

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4 minutes ago, blueshadows said:

I also think LMM is an amazing artist and sounds like an amazing person too (from what I see on his social media). I have yet to see Hamilton but I have listened to the cast recording and i find it brilliant. I have tickets to see it next May, sad to have missed the original cast (especially the original Aaron Burr and Angelica) but still very excited for next year.

With that being said, I don't think LMM is very good of a singer but he is a great rapper. So I doubt he would suit the Johnny part. I'm not sure which part would be suitable for him but there is for sure something that he could be great in. I love it that he is a GD fan and seems very excited about the movie. If he somehow gets involved i'm sure, with his great creative mind, he can definitely bring a lot to the project.

@pacejunkie punk: I am a huge Lost fan. I saw the show only 2 years ago or something and it's become my favorite show ever. I still think about it from time to time.

Very glad to see a thread talking about 3 things I'm very passionate about: Hamilton, Lost and of course Green Day!

I’m a huge fan of Hamilton too. There’s an excellent quality bootleg of the original cast out there online and I’ve seen it several times and have the soundtrack. I love that he’s a fan of AI/GD/BJA. I think he’s also a good singer though and could manage any role.

Lost: the days on the official forum of the show were some good times. The cast and creators would all post on there and I made friends I still keep in touch with. That was why finding this place made me so happy. It reminds me of The Fuselage it’s great to have an online community of kindred spirits again. ❤️

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59 minutes ago, WhiteTim said:

Hell a film isn’t 100% even if it is filmed and finished 

EXACTLY! 

The film Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang starring an already came back Robert Downey Jr. and written and directed by Shane Black.

I got to go see the film at a screen at Mann’s Chinese Theater (the big Hollywood Palace theater that everyone does premiers at in Holly) and that movie got buried because of a dispute between Joel Silver (mega producer) and Shane Black, which lead to the burying of one of the best films of that year.

If you haven’t go see Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, I PROMISE you’ll all LOVE it. It’s fucking amazing. I’ll tell you the stories of the funnies Q&A that Shane did after the screening. It was hysterical and very educational.

The best movie you’ve never heard of:

Why was it buried? Because of an argument and massive falling out with Shane Black and the marketing department. People in Los Angeles will shoot their own foot for leverage. It’s the worst place for relationships.  You are dead on though. For example, more recently, the Louis CK film that was just finished will probably never see the day of light because of the stupid shit he did.

39 minutes ago, Montclare said:

Billie also has a picture of him with Lin on his Instagram from 2015.

 

6 times and I still get jealous when someone else saw it that wasn’t me! :) How amazing was it? Hint: it gets better every time you see it.

What I love about it is that it is brutally honest historically. I found out when I was a teenager that across the pond, you guys (Brits) were learning about the truth while Americans were being taught that we just over powered them but the truth is by design, we just made it so that the honor of fighting was gone and “kept shooting from a distance”, modern American espionage began when Hercules Mulligan was a spy for American soldiers and we set up ambushes and the Britain got into other wars and it became their Vietnam. Yes they could have kept feeding dead relatives to come fight for something that would do them no good in their eyes and Britain could have destroyed us but it became a war that wives and daughters got sick of seeing their families killed over a “large island across the world” that they don’t care about which lead to the retreat. Sorry for being off topic but I’m pretty obviously infatuated with it.

King George’s first song which is set like a British Invasion pop song from the 60s which is an ironic love ballad from King George and this plays out 4x times in the show and some of its best comic relief:

 

 

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Thank you @LaughingClock you have made me so happy. I've literally been wondering about this since it was announced a year ago and had given up on it. So you're saying that it just became fully green lit a month ago?

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4 hours ago, pacejunkie punk said:

Heh. Here’s the fact nobody knows: the name comes from when I was an online superfan of the show Lost. Pace is for the character Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan) who was a junkie.  I just added the punk to show my Green Day love and I was an OG punk fan in the seventies. The More You Know...

ETA: and on topic, if LMM wants to be in it, even if there are several potential parts for him why would you not make him the lead and cash in on that?  To give him a small supporting role or cameo would be a wasted opportunity.

 

Him being in it would be massive in any capacity TBH.  Even though the show was not at it's height when he first was saying he wanted in, they would allow him in any capacity he wanted.   His name right now is the most wanted one in the entertainment industry.  Very rare for that to happen off of a Broadway production.  FTR, he is a MUCH better writer (and hip hop artist) than he is a singer.   He CAN sing but he is in no way a Broadway voice.  But it's all about the performance.  The "better" singing Hamilton isn't as good as watching Lin play it.

BTW, lol at Pace. Love Lost! One of the only TV shows I loved.  It was pretty amazing he was able to be a smack addict on a deserted island. 

2 hours ago, neverdone2000 said:

Thank you @LaughingClock you have made me so happy. I've literally been wondering about this since it was announced a year ago and had given up on it. So you're saying that it just became fully green lit a month ago?

Depends how you define "fully green lit" but yeah, right now it's in Green Lit status.  It's in rewrites which is pretty late in the pre-production phase of it all.  Again, won't know until it happens, but all signs point to yes.  It was green lit in some ways before October.  As soon as writers are writing, money is being spent which means there are executive producer (money guys).

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@LaughingClock I’m also a big RDJ fan since Less Than Zero in the eighties and at one point years later I went back digging through movies of his I had missed. KKBB was by far the best one of the rarities. 

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3 hours ago, pacejunkie punk said:

Heh. Here’s the fact nobody knows: the name comes from when I was an online superfan of the show Lost. Pace is for the character Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan) who was a junkie.  I just added the punk to show my Green Day love and I was an OG punk fan in the seventies. The More You Know...

 

haha, I'm a big Lost fan and I never put it together that that's what your name was about! Brilliant! I just rewatched Lost back in October, still holds up after all these years!

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1 hour ago, LaughingClock said:

  But it's all about the performance. 

And remember this is a film, it could be a lot different treatment than the musical, and on film it’s easier to get a vocal performance rather than conventional singing when the need arises.

 

 

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2 minutes ago, jengd said:

And remember this is a film, it could be a lot different treatment than the musical, and on film it’s easier to get a vocal performance rather than conventional singing when the need arises.

 

 

Right. They could do wonders with his voice in a studio.

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4 hours ago, blueshadows said:

I also think LMM is an amazing artist and sounds like an amazing person too (from what I see on his social media). I have yet to see Hamilton but I have listened to the cast recording and i find it brilliant. I have tickets to see it next May, sad to have missed the original cast (especially the original Aaron Burr and Angelica) but still very excited for next year.

With that being said, I don't think LMM is very good of a singer but he is a great rapper. So I doubt he would suit the Johnny part. I'm not sure which part would be suitable for him but there is for sure something that he could be great in. I love it that he is a GD fan and seems very excited about the movie. If he somehow gets involved i'm sure, with his great creative mind, he can definitely bring a lot to the project.

@pacejunkie punk: I am a huge Lost fan. I saw the show only 2 years ago or something and it's become my favorite show ever. I still think about it from time to time.

Very glad to see a thread talking about 3 things I'm very passionate about: Hamilton, Lost and of course Green Day!

He might not be the best singer, I agree but the man can bring it no matter what the situation.

Ill use two pieces of video to illustrate. First of course is the above post WH jam. Also, by the way, the secondary casts are as good and sometimes better than the original cast. Jefferson/Lafayette by Donica in LA is better than the original who is amazing. Hercules Mulligan is also better and Eliza in LA gets the best reviews on the show.

But what LMM could bring to the production is mass appeal (right now even more so than Green Day), and also his ability to create even if it is with someone else’s music.

As a side note, this is funny because LMM was just THIS WEEK on Curb Your Enthusiasm and he plays himself and is planning a possible caloboration on “Fatwa The Musical” by Larry David and he plays a sort of a dick who wants to take complete creative control over David’s musical to hilarity. 

But he can make a song that just breaks the mold and not just hip hop. Here is the most underrated song of the album (and anyone seeing Hamilton should know the soundtrack) but this song shows he can write a song that sounds like nothing you’ve heard. Half the songs break the traditional forumula of intro/hook, verse, bridge-chorus, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, break, etc... essentially the A-B-B-A forumula. 

In content this song touches on a subject not often brought up in a George Benson sounding song which also has (the same girl who plays Peggy Schyler) belting out Broadway style vocals. All written by Lin and performed by them both with the Burr character doing the intro. So he is literally praying 🙏 to “Say No To This” wait for the chorus which shows up and plays throughout after its introduced which is brilliant. It starts as a ballad, turns into hip hop, goes broadway and then becomes George Benson jazzy, all along playing off the frustration of giving into temptation and somehow manages to stay forgiving of our hero as he gives in and its sexy, relatable and even redeeming as he cheats for months on his loving wife who we the audience love and is set up by her husband (all true and was America’s first political sex scandal). It’s fucking brilliant. Anyone that can come up with shit like this would be an asset to any project.

 

Im surprised I haven’t been yelled at for being off topic but it is about the movie in a long way so.... but here is Lin doing Carpool Karaoke with one broadway legend, a couple broadway stars and the amazing Corden who simply is astonishing in his own right. Listen to when Corden does Lafayette’s part in Guns and Ships (the part where Lin is saying “Lafayette” while Corden raps it) which at 132 words a minute is by far the fastest lyrics in the show and Lin can’t even rap that part THAT HE WROTE but you can see how his “non-singing voice” is still quite capable.

AND FINALLY, damn you guys are right, when I get going, I don’t stop. I should just change my avvie to TLDR. Lol.

So finally I’m going to ruin every non married woman’s wedding because this is about the greatest thing ever. He took a new bride last year, and as a huge fan of Fiddler on the Roof (he sites it as one of his 2 favorite musicals of all time with Les Mis) and he did this from L’Chaim which is Jewish/Yiddish for “To Life” meaning fortune, happiness and health all in one. Check it.

 

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@LaughingClock You said that all of this can be found online but where, especially the info about LMM's involvement? I have done quite a few searches to try to keep my hope alive about the AI HBO thing but have never been able to find anything past the interview in which Billie mentioned it a year ago.

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I'm overwhelmed by this thread right now. Soooo excited to hear that the movie hasn't completely stopped. Even if it's of course never a sure thing until it's airing, some news is better than no news. Let's hope LMM can be involved because that really would be huge publicity-wise. And I'd gladly wait however long it takes as long as we get it, but I am concerned that at some point Billie will age out of the role of St. Jimmy. He may age slower than your average human but still. Hopefully they just rewrite it as three friends in their like 30s who are sick of their normal suburban lives rather than young people entering adulthood. But if the boys put out an album around this time next year or even a bit later, then tour on it for at least 6-8 months, that's end of 2019 making Billie 47 almost 48? I just hope that Fuji water keeps working it's magic, haha.

Also, I LOVE Lost! @pacejunkie punk I love that that's where you got your username. My old AIM name was "RockGod815" entirely a Charlie/Lost reference. It's one of my all time favorite shows. 

@LaughingClock I LOVE Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Had no idea that it had gotten put on hold though.  I'm a big RDJ fan and that movie is him at his best imo. 

 

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