Pussy Riot to Meet for Lead Roles in 'Spring Breakers' Sequel

One only wonders what James Franco's response will be now? The last few days have seen Franco lashing out at producers of Spring Breakers: The Second Coming for developing the sequel without the consent or involvement of Harmony Korine. It's erupted into a war of words with Franco (dressed as his Alien character) calling the film "weak" and "horrible", and producer Chris Hanley responding by making fun of his sequels...

“Let’s see if I can remember all of the sequels James has done. And he’s pushing hard to help set up the Pineapple Express sequel. I guess he thinks only ‘too big to fail studio films’ are the artistically valid ventures.”

So if Franco intends to continue his verbal protest of the film, he may find himself tangling with an actual group of protestors, ones who have tangled with friggin' Vladimir Putin. Punk rockers and activists Pussy Riot is on the way to Cannes to meet with producers about starring in the film, which will be written by Irvine Welsh and directed by Jonas Akerlund.  The group's front-women Nadezhda “Nadya” Tolokonnikova and Maria “Masha” Alyokhina will talk with Akerlund about the film, and Hanley sounds positively ecstatic about it....

Hanley: “The fiction of ‘Spring Breakers’ never met with the reality of Pussy Riot — until now"....“Since there are some suggestions in the reporting on ‘Second Coming’ that it is a ‘weak’ or ‘lame’ sequel, the new Irvine Welsh screenplay has the strongest feminine voice of the ‘Spring Breakers’ characters so far. And Nadya and Maria of Pussy Riot are a powerful new voice of world feminism. We are all into radical innovations.”

So is this real or just a publicity stunt to work up a few sales?  Hey, whatever works, right? And honestly, since nobody seems to think a Spring Breakers 2 is a good idea this may be a good way to change a few minds. And it makes sense considering the girls in the first film were clearly modeled on Pussy Riot to begin with. Now if only Putin would show up for a cameo... [Variety]