Is the World Ready for Lesbian Teenage Werewolves?

If you read these pages with any regularity, you already know that I'm quite a fan of Ellen Page. Her work thus far, in Hard Candy, An American Crime, and, most recently, in the lovable, fabulous Juno, has been superb. I noted a while back that Page has several films warming up in the bullpen, and one of them is Jack and Diane, in which she's set to costar opposite Olivia Thirlby, who plays her best friend in Juno.

Now let me tell you about Jack and Diane (oh, you knew I had to go there, c'mon). According to its website, the film, which is supposed to be directed by Bradley Rust Gray (Salt), is about: "Jack and Diane, two teenage lesbians, meet in New York City and spend the night kissing ferociously. Diane's charming innocence quickly begins to open Jack's tough skinned heart. But, when Jack discovers that Diane is leaving the country in a week she tries to push her away. Diane must struggle to keep their love alive while hiding the secret that her newly awakened sexual desire occasionally turns her into a werewolf."

Lesbian teenage werewolves? Holy jeepers, what's the world coming to? This excerpt from the director's statement gives a better idea of what Gray has in mind: "I see JACK & DIANE as an investigation of love. It's unapologetically romantic. Love is the most instinctive way for us to understand other people regardless of cultural background, race, or sexuality. Everyone has the same desire to love and to be loved." (You can read a lot more about the film at its official website.)

Gee, that doesn't sound so bad, does it? Surely even middle America can handle a teenage lesbian werewolves if the theme is the most universal of all, love? Unfortunately, it's not quite as easy as you might think to get a film like this made. Alex Billington over at firstshowing.net had a chance to sit down with both Page and Thirlby at the Toronto International Film Festival, and they revealed the disturbing news that production on Jack and Diane has not started yet, because of funding issues. It seems they're having some issues raising money to shoot the film because people think it's about lesbian teenage werewolves, when in fact, as Page notes, the werewolf reference is actually metaphorical (sorry to break that news to all you lesbian werewolf fetishists out there).

At any rate, this sounds like an interesting movie, Page and Thirlby seem perfectly cast in their roles (and Page, coming off Juno, will be even more in demand than she already was), the story sounds fairly compelling, and the director has a decent track record. If I had a million or so dollars lying around, I'd fund it myself just to see it made, but as that's not the case, I'm hoping, along with Billington, that some rich person (or hey, even a lesbian werewolf) looking to make a movie might get behind the project, pronto, and get it made already. In the meantime, let's all join hands and hum the John Cougar Mellencamp song that was part of the soundtrack of my own teenage lesbian werewolf days ... (okay, only part of that bit is true, but I'm not saying which part).