The Irons family are really cornering the market when it comes to big screen YA adaptations in 2013, with father Jeremy hamming it up to great effect in “Beautiful Creatures” and son Max soon to be seen as one of the leads in Andrew Niccol‘s “The Host.” Not content with simply having a truly badass name, Max Irons has clearly got his eye on a big Hollywood career, and if “The Host” comes anywhere close to matching the phenomenon that the last Stephenie Meyer franchise did, he could be well on his way. And if not, well, he already has a role in “Vivaldi” lined up, and now he’s added another, in the shape of Lone Scherfig‘s “Posh,” to his schedule.
Scherfig’s film is an adaptation of the Laura Wade play that opened in London in 2010 before moving to the West End last year, and launched the career of “Game of Thrones” star Kit Harington, among others. The story centers around ten members of an exclusive Oxford University dining club known as The Riot Club, who rent out a country pub’s dining room for their termly dinner. Their president is about to leave University and the event soon becomes a boozy and boisterous affair, with things getting increasingly out of hand. Many have read the play as a thinly veiled cypher for the real-life Bullingdon Club who have a reputation for drinking heavily and trashing nice places…and that club just so happens to boast former members including the current Prime Minister, Chancellor, and Mayor of London. The subject matter and young male cast have also led some to make comparisons to Alan Bennett‘s “The History Boys,” and we wouldn’t bet against this adaptation being just as stagey as the film version of that, unless Scherfig and Wade have found a way to really open it up.
There’s no news on which character Irons will be playing in the ensemble, and we’re not going to speculate. Other reports have linked a number of other erudite Brits to roles including Douglas Booth, Sam Clafin and Robert Pattinson, although the suggestion is that Pattinson in particular is being pursued but may not be interested. The film should prove an attractive prospect though to both established and up-and-coming British actors, providing they can fit the shoot (scheduled to begin in May) into their schedules. Scherfig did a great job with “An Education” a few years back, which rocketed Carey Mulligan to stardom, and with strong source material there are more than enough incentives for a strong cast to assemble. Whether or not it makes waves abroad, the film will likely attract a lot of attention in the British press thanks to the Bullingdon connections, so Max Irons should probably get his practice in now for straight-batting all those questions away. [The Hollywood Reporter]