Source:Imagine Entertainment

November 13, 2009

Filming has begun on location in Portland, Oregon on an untitled project from two-time Academy AwardŽ-nominated director Gus Van Sant, starring Mia Wasikowska (upcoming Alice in Wonderland) and Henry Hopper. The film's screenplay was written by first-timer Jason Lew, based upon his original stage play "Of Winter and Water Birds." The film is produced by Imagine Entertainment's Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, and Bryce Dallas Howard and Gus Van Sant. The supporting cast includes Ryo Kase, Schuyler Fisk, and Jane Adams.

In the film, two outsiders, both shaped by the circumstances that have brought them together, forge a deep and lasting love. Van Sant will present a take on friendship and young love as engaging and true as it is provocative and stirring. The screenplay is by Jason Lew.

Bryce Dallas Howard, a producer of the film, said, "This film is a quietly epic coming of age story. It captures the profoundly defining turning point of a young person's life with stark realism, irreverent humor, and intense emotion. I think that Gus was drawn to this story because he has an uncanny ability to convey the complexities of youth and outsiders. For this is, above all else, the journey of an outsider."

Van Sant's longtime collaborator Harris Savides (Milk) is the director of photography. Anne Ross (Lost in Translation) is the production designer on the film and Academy AwardŽ nominees Elliot Graham (Milk) and Danny Glicker (Milk) have joined the film as editor and the costume designer, respectively.