Though she’ll be venturing to the small screen for HBO’s adaptation of Big Little Lies, Oscar winner Nicole Kidman is simultaneously lining up some very promising gigs in Hollywood. Today brings word that she’ll reteam with Rabbit Hole director John Cameron Mitchell for How to Talk to Girls at Parties, an adaptation of the Neil Gaiman short story.
Elle Fanning was already set to lead a cast that now also includes The Affair‘s Ruth Wilson and Matt Lucas (Alice in Wonderland). The strange-sounding project (I mean, this is Gaiman we’re talking about) will follow an alien tourist (Fanning) who breaks away from her tour group to explore the most dangerous place in the universe: the London suburb of Croydon, and a punk schoolboy who uses music and art as a way to escape the doldrums of his daily existence.
The soundtrack is said to be a big deal for the project, with LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy being one of several major artists courted to work on it. Cast members will also contribute songs to the movie.
What’s interesting about How to Talk to Girls at Parties is how far it appears to be diverging from Gaiman’s short story, which simply followed two boys who go to a party in 1970s London to hook up with girls, only to realize that something’s not quite right about the ladies in attendance. The full text of that story can be read here. Mitchell penned the screenplay alongside Philippa Goslett (Little Ashes), which might explain why this is shaping up into more of a two-hander love story, but Gaiman is said to have been closely involved with the development, so his readers can rest easy knowing that the prolific writer isn’t getting left in the dust.
Production is ramping up for a fall shoot in the U.K., so expect to learn more about How to Talk to Girls at Parties sometime next year.