Every adult, whether they’ve been out of high school for a few months or many years, vividly remembers the most popular students in their grade, and wonders where life has taken them since graduation. Even with the success of such films as Sixteen Candles and Mean Girls, few movies have chronicled the life of the popular crowd after graduation, as they approach middle age.
Academy Award-nominated director, screenwriter and producer Jason Reitman takes a risk in his new comedy-drama Young Adult, by showcasing the crazy antics of a 30’s-something, emotionally stunted, former It girl.
Young Adult follows Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron), a young adult literature writer living in Minneapolis. While she claims she’s happy she left her small hometown, she immediately returns after hearing her high school sweetheart, Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson), just had a baby with his wife, Beth (Elizabeth Reaser). Mavis is determined to win Buddy back, despite the protests of their old classmate, Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt). Along the way, she realizes that reprising her role of the queen bee isn’t as glamorous as she thought it would be.
Recently, we attended a press conference at New York City’s Central Park Ritz Carlton where Reitman was on hand to discuss Young Adult. He talked about only wanting to shoot the film if he was able to cast Theron, how he doesn’t like to tell people what messages his films hold, as he wants his viewers to talk about his projects, and more.
Watch the video of the press conference below.
We’d like to thank Reitman for talking to us and be sure to check out Young Adult when it hits select theaters on Friday, December 9, and gets a wide release on Friday, December 16.
Sorry, this video is currently unavailable.