CHICAGO – We have learned that writer and director Jonathan Levine (“All the Boys Love Mandy Lane”) and lead actor Josh Peck (“Ice Age: The Meltdown”) will publicly appear this Thursday, June 19, 2008 at 7 p.m. at the downtown Chicago Apple store [1] at 679 N. Michigan Ave. to offer an insider’s look at their new film “The Wackness”.
 Photo by JoJo Whilden, © 2008 Occupant Films and courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics |
Along with Peck, “The Wackness” also features Sir Ben Kingsley (who played Gandhi in 1982’s “Gandhi”) and Olivia Thirlby (from recent “Juno” fame).
 Photo credit: Robin Holland, courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics |
In addition to showing clips from the New York-set film, Levine and Peck will also be taking questions from the audience.
“The Wackness” is an Audience Award winner at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. The film is scheduled to open in Chicago on July 11, 2008. Stay tuned for our upcoming interviews with Levine and Peck.
Here’s the plot outline for “The Wackness”:
In the summer of 1994, the streets of New York are pulsing with hip-hop and wafting with the sweet aroma of marijuana. But change is in the air.
The newly inaugurated mayor, Rudy Giuliani, is beginning to implement his anti-fun initiatives against “crimes” like noisy portable radios, graffiti and public drunkenness.
Set against this backdrop, Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) spends his last summer before college selling dope throughout New York City and trading it with his shrink (Ben Kingsley) for therapy while crushing on his step-daughter (Olivia Thirlby).
Famke Janssen, Mary Kate Olsen and Method Man round out the cast in this edgy, bittersweet and funny coming-of-age story.
 Photo by JoJo Whilden, © 2008 Occupant Films and courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics |
View our full, high-resolution image gallery for “The Wackness”. [2] [3] | By ADAM FENDELMAN [4] |