'Twelve' on Radar screen
Pic speaks to 'alienation that today's youth feels'
Joe Rosenberg will produce the pic for Radar, and Radar owner Ted Field will exec produce. Radar exec VP of business and legal affairs David Boyle brokered the deal.
Last year "Twelve" had the media and movie worlds buzzing over its depiction of the freewheeling, decadent lifestyle of Manhattan's young and rich. McDonell, now an undergrad at Harvard, was 18 when the book was published and still in high school.
"'Twelve' really speaks of the alienation that today's youth feels with respect to family and the world," Rosenberg said. "While it focuses on the upper class and New York City, I think the themes are universal."
Melamed, who quit his job as a trader in the Chicago commodity pit to go to AFI film school, most recently helmed the critically-acclaimed "Manic," which was released by IFC Films earlier this year and shown at the Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals. He is developing "Manic" as a pilot at Showtime with producer John Davis.
The director is meeting with McDonell in coming weeks and says he plans to involve him as much as possible in making the movie.
Of "Twelve," Melamed says, "It hit a lot of people from that (teenage) age group by cutting through the hypocrisy of their world in the way that 'The Catcher in the Rye' did. Both teenagers and adults can really respond to it."
Radar is coming off what has been a more than solid year. The remake of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" has grossed almost $80 million in domestic box office, and the Tom Cruise starrer "The Last Samurai" (which Warner Bros. is distribbing) opens Friday.
Upcoming projects include "The Chronicles of Riddick" starring Vin Diesel, and another remake, "Amityville Horror," produced with Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes, which will open next fall.
Melamed is repped by the Gersh Agency and manager Jeff Field.
