Havoc - Preview
Preview by Jack Foley
2006 could well be the year that marks the reinvention of Anne Hathaway from Disney princess to serious actress.
Having already impressed with a supporting role in Brokeback Mountain, the talented young actress will also be seen alongside Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada and then in teen racial drama Havoc.
It’s this latter film that’s likely to raise the most eyebrows, however, given its liberal mix of swearing, teenage sex, nudity, rape, drug abuse and gang violence.
Directed by two time Academy Award-winning documentary director Barbara Kopple from a script by Stephen (Traffic) Gaghan, the film follows the fortunes of two wealthy Los Angeles girls who become increasingly fascinated with the street lifestyle and hip-hop culture of East LA.
Hathaway plans Alison who, together with best friend Emily (Bijou Phillips), become inspired to imitate the “gangsta” lifestyle having become bored with their own.
But they soon run into trouble when they befriend an East LA gang led by a charismatic charmer named Hector (Six Feet Under‘s Freddy Rodriguez).
Havoc features a strong ensemble cast of emerging actors, including Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Brick), Mike Vogel (Poseidon) and Alexis Dziena (Broken Flowers).
It also stars Michael Biehn and Laura San Giacomo as Alison’s distant parents.
Commenting on her reasons for making the film, director Kopple said: “Set among the youth of LA, Havoc is an attempt to delve into the myriad conflicts that exist in this microcosm of our society.
“The film confronts issues of race and class, sex and drugs and in a way that I believe is honest, but never exploitative.
“The depiction of the young people in the film is realistic and based on what I saw as I travelled through Los Angeles, both in the Palisades and in East LA.”
Audiences will have the opportunity to judge for themselves when the film opens on October 27.
Read our Devil Wears Prada preview