Peter Pan didn’t exactly start out as the kid-friendly story we all know and love thanks to Disney animation. In the original story, Tinkerbell calls Wendy an ass, Peter is all but left for dead at one point, and the whole story acts as a metaphor for coming of age. So who better to put the darker side back into the fairy tale than Larry Clark, the man whose first film was about an HIV-postive skater out to have sex with as many virgins as possible, thus spreading his disease, in 1995’s Kids.
Clark, also responsible for last year’s Wassup Rockers, recently told LA Weekly about his plans to create a new version of the classic story. "The script is very, very dark and it is very good." said Clark. "We wrote it three years ago and are ready to make it now.” So what’s new with the new adaptation of Barrie’s tale? Peter finds the latest version of Wendy in Brooklyn instead of the classic London setting. That’s right: the latest version. "Let’s just say Peter has been with a lot of Wendys."
Clark also offered up some potential casting for the film: Pan’s nemesis Hook, who has been portrayed on screen by actors ranging from Dustin Hoffman to Jason Issacs may be played by Sin City’s Marv, Mickey Rourke. That’s certainly an incredibly different take on the character.
I don’t know if I’ll be interested in seeing the final product, being a pretty big fan of the original, but if nothing else it’ll be interesting to hear about the development of what could prove to be another controversial Clark film.
