There's no denying
Shawn Levy's movie
Night at the Museum overachieved. When all was said and done the movie made over $571 million worldwide and it continues to make tons of money through it's DVD sales. The movie was garbage (
my review here) but came out at the right time and had a great marketing campaign which propelled it into a big money maker. Today,
The Hollywood Reporter (via
Coming Soon) are telling us that Levy is attached to a movie whose title just about sums up the director in a word. Universal Pictures have acquired the rights to the non-fiction book
The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids for Levy to produce and probably direct through his company 21 Laps. The book written by
Alexandra Robbins looks at the lives of students in an American high school as they become obsessed with success and will do anything to make sure their SAT's and College Applications go through without a hitch. Basically it's a tale about the obsessive need to study and educate over having fun at such a young age.
"I read the book while I was at the tail end of the 'Night at the Museum' shoot, and it really spoke to certain experiences I had had as a 16-year-old, virtually killing myself to get into Yale," Levy said. "And I was kind of horrified to admit that I related to these kids. And there is something really unique about the culture right now where you have kids sacrificing the enjoyment of their youth to get to the next level. And the question is, what is the cost of ambition when you are 17 years old?"
The plan, as if I needed to remind you with Levy on board, is to make the film a character-driven teen comedy which is a shame because a worthy and dramatic tale could have been told here. Basically his comments above about him being "horrified" that he could relate to these kids is absolute bull-shit because if he could relate, then surely he would direct a tale that shows this obsessive culture in a 100% realistic way? I can't help but feel there is a missed opportunity here.