GREEN DAY's American Idiot MOVIE could still happen
We've heard in the past, that Green Day would like to turn their album "American Idiot" into a movie. Though there is a musical adaptation debuting in September at the Berkeley Repertory Theater, it's been five years since the album came out and still, no movie.
The bands newest release, "21st Century Breakdown" continues in the "Rock Opera" traditions of their Grammy Award winning "American Idiot", implementing politically themed, character driven stories that are told track by track. MTV reports that Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong is still pushing for a movie version of "Idiot" and would like to approach it quite a surprising way.
Armstrong told the Associated Press:
I thought 'American Idiot' had a lot in common with something like Rocky Horror Picture Show. It would great to see a film made out of it someday too.
MTV goes on to offer some ideas on what some of the songs plot points could be if all goes through. Keep in mind these are just suggestions!
Eric Ditzian suggests:
If Green Day pushes forward with a glammed-up rock opera/coming-of-age tale based on “American Idiot,” here’s how we’d like to see it shake out:
Jesus of Suburbia: The main character of the story, Jesus (not his given name) is a disaffected suburban kid who likes to graffiti bathroom walls, make out with girls and drink beer. As Billie Joe has admitted, he and the character share a number of similarities. In the epic music video, Lou Taylor Pucci played Jesus with spikey black hair and neck tattoos, making him look like the frontman’s young self. But that video hit in 2004 and by the time casting gets underway, Pucci may be a bit too old to play a teenager. Hey, could be Pucci, could be Joseph Gordon Levitt. But I like an unknown for the role.
Jesus’ Mom: She loves her cigarettes and her scratch-off lotto tickets, and she is sick of her son’s crap. She admits to being a loser, but tells Jesus that makes him the son of a loser, as well as a “f---ing moron.” Mother of the year, she ain’t. Actresses who can convey a gritty realism, like Holly Hunter, Amy Ryan, Carrie-Anne Moss, should get a look.
St. Jimmy: This guy is a badass, the “comedy and tragedy” of the album, as Billie Joe sings. He likes his dope and rails against the Man. This character has scene-stealer written all over him. I like Jay Baruchel. He may not be a household name at the moment, but after appearing with Nic Cage in “The Sorcerer's Apprentice” next year, he might be. Baruchel can bring the funny and then hit you with the searing emotion when you weren’t even looking.
"Wake Me Up When September Ends": The song was originally intended as a memorial to Billie Joe’s father, but the video followed a young couple in love. The lyrics touch on feelings of loss, nostalgia and the passage of time. If they stick with the teenage couple idea—perhaps they’re friends of Jesus?—the logical choice would be to stick with Evan Rachel Wood and Jamie Bell. If perhaps it becomes a tale of Jesus’ deceased father, the only choice to play the man would be Giovanni Ribisi: in looks and coiled frenetic energy, Ribisi and Billie Joe are twins.
“Holiday”: This song is pure, cathartic fun. The video showcases the band ripping around town in a convertible. Here’s time to meet some of Jesus’ glam-friendly friends, played by Adam Lambert and Benji and Joel Madden. Are they a little old? Sure. But Armstrong has said he wants musicians in his movie, so we’ll give him musicians.
Billie Joe has once said of casting:
Maybe we'll have, you know, [Rancid's]Tim Armstrong come out as Whatsername [the central character of the final song] and we'll get the Madden brothers.
Billie Joe has been pushing for a live-action movie since 2006, maybe instead of going The Who's Quadrophenia route, maybe he should follow in the footsteps of The Beatles' animated movie Yellow Submarine. But I haven't heard anything of the sort, just a suggestion... cough cough.