It looks like The Wackness will be helmer Jonathan Levine’s ticket to a secure future career. According to THR, two projects have been added to Levine’s plate and he’s not limiting himself to the confines of the indie realm.
The helmer is set to write and direct the romantic thriller Positive, produced by Occupant Films, who were also responsible for The Wackness. The pic takes place in Martha’s Vineyard and tells the story of a twenty-something who is seduced by his fiancee’s sister upon visiting her family. The project is aimed to begin lensing in mid-2009.
Levine with also be writing Echelon Vendetta for Sony, an espionage thriller based on the novel by David Stone. The pic tells the story of a CIA “cleaner,” in charge of keeping the government’s dirty secrets from hitting the public. After the death of a friend, the cleaner takes on an investigation into the death several other agents.
In regards to this switch over to Hollywood, Levine joked, “I want to have a lot of the creative freedom that comes from (indie pics), but I also don’t want to be broke.”
The Wackness releases in New York and Los Angeles this Friday. With the hype surrounding The Wackness, Levine’s move away from indie
to Hollywood thriller may be surprising, but he’s no stranger to the
genre. Levine’s first pic, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, will open in U.S. theaters this August. The pic is a teenage horror/thriller about an untouched, high school beauty fighting for her life when she rejects the come-ons of a raging high school boy.
