He was the talk of the Sundance Film Festival thanks to "Rocket Science," a buzz-heavy flick about a stuttering high school debater; now, Reece Thompson is graduating into his "Sophomore" year.
The 19-year-old Canadian actor, whose most significant role before "Science" was as a young Jason Lee in the sci-fi dud "Dreamcatcher," has been chosen to star in "Sophomore," a high school comedy co-starring Mischa Barton, Bruce Willis and his daughter Rumer.
Marking the feature film debut of director Brett Simon, the flick takes place at a Catholic High School and tells the story of a popular girl (Barton) who pairs up with a dorky newspaper reporter (Thompson) to do some investigative reporting after some SAT exams are stolen. "Die Hard" legend Willis plays John T. Kirkpatrick, a Gulf War veteran turned principal.
Described as an homage to the hard-boiled Jack Nicholson classic "Chinatown," the film's buzz-heavy script was written by first timers Tim Calpin and Kevin Jakubowksi.
The indie flick is being produced by The Yari Film Group and was formerly titled "Assassination of a High School President," but changed for obvious reasons. The new title is not to be confused with "Sophomore," a currently-in-production indie comedy from "Drivers Wanted" director T. Lee Beideck.
Thompson will play Bobby Funke, a frequently picked-upon sophomore whose Sam Spade-like voiceover powers the narrative as he investigates the crime and runs afoul of Willis' character. Director Simon, well known for directing hit music videos by Good Charlotte and The Killers, begins shooting the film this week in New Jersey. "Rocket Science," meanwhile, opens in limited release this weekend.
And since we just so happen to have "Rocket" star Aaron Yoo writing a blog for us these days, he posted his thoughts right here on Thompson's big breakthrough just a few hours ago here. "Reece is researching noir films for this project he’s about to start," Yoo said in part. "His school principal’s gonna be Bruce Willis. How pimp is THAT?"
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