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Riley Keough and Juno Temple in JACK & DIANE, a Magnolia Pictures release by Bradley Rust Gray. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

Jack & Diane (2012)

Also Known As: Jack and Diane

Opened: 11/02/2012 Limited

Trailer: Click for trailer

Genre: Romantic Drama/Horror

Rated: R for strong sexual content including nudity and an assault, bloody violence, language and drinking - all involving teens.

Love Is A Monster

Featuring animation sequences by Quay Brothers and new music by Mum with Kylie Minogue.

Synopsis

Jack and Diane, two teenage girls, meet in New York City and spend the night kissing ferociously. Diane's charming innocence quickly begins to open Jack's tough skinned heart. But when Jack discovers that Diane is moving she pushes her away. Unable to grasp her new feelings, Diane's emotions begin to cause unexplainable violent changes to her body. Through these awkward and insecure feelings, the two girls must struggle to turn their first love into an enduring one.

Director's Statement

My focus in making JACK & DIANE is to carefully examine what happens when two young people fall in love for the first time. I want to show this love in a way that comes from inside the characters.

Diane is quiet and innocent with an inner raging passion. Jack is a tough skinned skateboard girl who hides a fragile heart. The collision of these distinct personalities creates a vulnerable energy. When Diane first discovers love she becomes desperate to find out if her feelings are being returned. Only Diane can't find the words to explain how she feels. Instead, her head gets fuzzy, she gets scared, she panics... and she transforms into a horrifically violent creature covered in blood. This creature, though it is grotesque, becomes Diane's way of saying, "I love you so much I want to eat you and put you inside me forever."

In this way, certain parts of the film expand into dreamlike and often terrifying imagery. I see these moments as a manifestation of Diane's inner desire for love and acceptance. It is not until Jack also takes on these unusual transformations that she can understand how Diane feels and the two can finally unite their souls. For me this process a way of visualizing what love really feels like when you first experience it. I believe love is scary, all consuming, it makes you vulnerable, and it's the most important thing to happen to anyone in their life. To show that Diane and Jack carry these elements of love together is why we want to make this film.

-- Bradley Rust Gray

About the Cast

Juno Temple (Diane)

Juno Temple, the daughter of producer Amanda Temple and film director Julien Temple, began her career as a child actress in the 1997 film VIGO: PASSION FOR LIFE, a film about Jean Vigo. She has won critical praise for several supporting roles in NOTES ON A SCANDAL and ATONEMENT. She has also worked alongside some of the world's most high profile movie stars, such as Cate Blanchett, Dame Judi Dench, Ben Stiller, Kiera Knightley, and Natalie Portman, just to name a few. Other film credits include GREENBERG, MR. NOBODY, CRACKS, YEAR ONE, WILD CHILD, ST. TRINIAN'S, and THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL. She can next be seen in Abe Sylvia's DIRTY GIRL, a drama from Killer Films with Milla Jovovich, William H. Macy, and Mary Steenburgen, as well as Elgin James' GOODNIGHT MOON.

Riley Keough (Jack)

Riley Keough made her modeling debut at age 14 on the Dolce & Gabbana runway in Italy and appeared on the cover of Vogue in August of that same year alongside her mother and her grandmother. She made her film debut in THE RUNAWAYS (released in March 2010) alongside Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart, playing Marie Currie, the sister of Cherie Currie. She will next be seen in the film THE GOOD DOCTOR with Orlando Bloom.

Cara Seymour (Aunt Linda)

Cara Seymour is an English actress and continues to have a storied career in films, TV, and theater. She has worked with some of the most respected and talented directors in the film world, including Martin Scorsese, Lars Von Trier, and Spike Jonze. Cara won considerable acclaim on the New York Stage, appearing in the New Group's Obie winning productions of Mike Leigh's ECSTASY and GOOSE PIMPLES, The Public Theater production of Caryl Churchill's THE SKRYKER and Noel Coward's PRESENT LAUGHTER at The Walter Kerr Theater on Broadway. Cara's versatility has allowed her to play a broad range of roles in such film works as YOU'VE GOT MAIL, ADAPTATION, GANGS OF NEW YORK, DANCER IN THE DARK, AMERICAN PSYCHO, HOTEL RWANDA, BIRTH, and THE SAVAGES. Most recently, she can be seen in the critically acclaimed Oscar nominated AN EDUCATION.

Kylie Minogue (Tara)

Kylie Minogue established her career early on the Australian soap opera NEIGHBOURS. However, she is probably best known as a singer, which began purely by accident, when a record company executive heard her rendition of "The Locomotion." After signing with PWL Records, she made history by having more than 20 consecutive top ten hits in the UK. Minogue has achieved worldwide record sales of more than 60 million, and has received notable music awards, including multiple ARIA and Brit Awards and a Grammy Award. Although busy with her music career, she has been able to take roles in movies like BIO-DOME and MOULIN ROUGE. Recently, Kylie Minogue has seen two single reach number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart.

About the Filmmakers

Bradley Rust Gray (Writer / Director)

Gray's second feature, THE EXPLODING GIRL, was distributed theatrically by Oscilloscope Pictures in the spring of 2010. Starring Zoe Kazan, and shot on the Red camera, it opened to critical acclaim. The film was also screened at a multitude of film festivals including the Berlin International Film Festival, the London International Film Festival, and at the Tribeca Film Festival, where Zoe Kazan won Best Actress.

Gray's first narrative feature, SALT, was filmed in Iceland and premiered at the Berlin Film Festival 2003 where it garnered the Caligari Film Prize for Innovative Filmmaking. It was selected for over 20 International festivals and won three more international awards.

Gray's short film hITCH premiered at the prestigious New York Film Festival in 1999 and later won an award at Sundance in 2000. hITCH was also selected as one of the 'Best Films of the Year' in Film Comment Magazine and Gray was featured as one of the '25 Filmmakers to Watch' that year in Filmmaker Magazine.

Most recently, Gray has finished producing Kim's third feature entitled FOR ELLEN starring Paul Dano, Jena Malone, and Jon Heder.

He has also produced So Yong Kim's second feature TREELESS MOUNTAIN, shot on location in South Korea in 2008. After the film was showcased at various international film festivals, it saw a theatrical release in the spring of 2009 by Oscilloscope Pictures. The film was also nominated for several Independent Spirit Awards in 2010, including the John Cassavetes Award.

In addition, Gray has produced and co-wrote IN BETWEEN DAYS, the first feature film by So Yong Kim. IN BETWEEN DAYS was awarded a Special Jury Prize for Independent Vision at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and won the FIPRESCI International Critic's Prize at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival International Forum for New Cinema. It was released by Kino theatrically in 2006 to great critical acclaim.

Gray is a Fulbright scholar who has received graduate degrees from both USC and the British Film Institute in London. His undergraduate work focused on architecture, sculpture, and experimental filmmaking with a degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Jen Gatien (Producer)

Jen Gatien is an independent film producer based in New York City. Ms. Gatien's recently produced So Yong Kim's FOR ELLEN starring Paul Dano, Jena Malone, and Jon Heder which will be released by Tribeca Film. Ms. Gatien has also produced HOUNDDOG, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, CHELSEA ON THE ROCKS, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008, as well as HOLY ROLLERS which premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. She produced Billy Corben's documentary LIMELIGHT about the legendary nightclub impresario Peter Gatien which was distributed by Magnolia Pictures in 2011. She currently is working on post-production of 2 documentary films and recently wrapped Xan Cassavetes' KISS OF THE DAMNED. Ms. Gatien is on the board of the Lower East Side Girls Club and Film Society's New Wave.

Karin Chien (Producer)

Karin Chien is an independent film producer and distributor based in New York, and the 2010 Producers Award recipient from the Independent Spirit Awards. Karin has produced seven feature-length films, including THE EXPLODING GIRL (2009), THE MOTEL (2005) and ROBOT STORIES (2002), which have won over 75 festival awards, premiered at the Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals, and received international distribution. Karin is currently in post-production on two Sundance Filmmaker Lab projects, CIRCUMSTANCE and AYITI, AYITI. Karin is the founder and president of dGenerate Films, the leading distributor of independent, and uncensored, Chinese cinema. Karin is also the curator of the Chinatown Film Project, the inaugural film exhibition for the Museum of Chinese in America.

So Yong Kim (Producer)

So Yong Kim is an independent filmmaker and producer based in New York City. Her first feature film, IN BETWEEN DAYS, which she wrote and directed, has won several honors including awards at the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin International Film People, as well as an LA Film Critics Award. The film was released in 2006 by Kino to wide critical acclaim.

Ms. Kim's second feature, TREELESS MOUNTAIN, the script of which was presented at the 2007 Cannes Atelier Program, was completed in 2008. After screening at a multitude of international film festivals and winning several awards, the film was released theatrically by Oscilloscope Pictures in 2009.

Ms. Kim has also produced both of Gray's narrative features, THE EXPLODING GIRL, in 2009, which won an award for Best Actress at the Tribeca Film Festival, and SALT, in 2003, which won four international awards and was released on the Sundance Channel. She also brings producing experience from working for major multimedia companies in New York and Tokyo.

Most recently, Ms. Kim has wrapped production on her third feature film entitled FOR ELLEN, starring Paul Dano, Jena Malone, and Jon Heder.

Gabe Bartalos (Creature Design)

The animatronic design for the skinless beast in JACK & DIANE was based on a skinned polar bear head. Since the creature emerges from within Diane's sexual frustration it opens the possibilities of a new interpretation for traditional creature design. With this in mind, Bartalos and Gray intended to create an animal that's never been seen before: a creature that stems from Diane's inner desires, and also links the Brother's Quay's unique vision of the world inside Diane.

Gabe is highly admired for the elaborate make-up effects for artist/filmmaker Matthew Barney's lush CREMASTER CYCLE. He also worked on Barney's most recent project, DRAWING RESTRAINT 9. Gabe Bartalos runs his own effects company, Atlantic West Effects.

The Brothers Quay (Animation)

The Brothers Quay unearthed the interior of Diane's body, a world of blood, hair, and teeth which is brought to life by her blossoming sexuality. These animated moments surface throughout the film, edged on by Diane's emotional journey.

The extraordinary Brothers Quay are two of the world's most original filmmakers. Their classic film, STREET OF CROCODILES, was selected as one of the ten best animated films of all time by Terry Gilliam. In 1994, with INSTITUTE BENJAMENTA, they made their first live-action feature. They also contributed an animated dream sequence to Julie Taymor's film FRIDA.

Their second feature, THE PIANO TUNER OF EARTHQUAKES, competed in Lorcarno in 2005.

Mum (Music)

Mum is an experimental Icelandic musical group that formed in 1997. Their music is characterized by soft vocals, electronic glitch beats and effects and a variety of traditional and unconventional instruments. Their last few records were with Fat Cat Records, an independent English label known for the discovery of such artists as Sigur Ros and Animal Collective. With a fan base that extends across Europe and to the US, the group is currently on tour promoting their 6th album 'Sing Along to Songs You Don't Know'.