Chemical Pink - the movie
There’s some interesting news about Chemical Pink, the planned movie based on Katie Arnoldi’s novel about the world of women’s bodybuilding. The project has gone through some ups and downs: Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk had originally been slated to write the screenplay, and David Fincher, who was supposed to direct it, both dropped out. Arnoldi eventually wrote the screenplay herself and music video director Jonas Akerlund will now direct. The latest is that he and producer Ted Field are now looking for someone to play Aurora Johnson, the main character - an aspiring female bodybuilder who moves to southern California to pursue her dream.
They were initially hoping to get a big Hollywood name to play Aurora - at various points in the process they were talking to Patricia Arquette (who apparently even started training at Gold’s in Venice and eating six meals a day!), Rosario Dawson and Jessical Biel - but in the end they couldn’t persuade any of them to take on the job. “It takes years to put on muscle and I just couldn’t see how they were going to make a skinny actress look like a bodybuilder in six months,” Arnoldi tells us.
Arnoldi tells us they now plan to cast a "real girl" instead. They are even talking about an American Idol-style reality show in which Arnoldi, Akerlund and Field would go around the country auditioning female bodybuilders for the part - what Arnoldi calls “In Search of Aurora”. That could mean an amazing opportunity for a female bodybuilder to play the lead in a Hollywood movie. We'll let you know as soon as we know more...
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i dont know about this. i havent read the book yet, (its coming on tuesday hopefully) but i know its about the extreme dark side of female bodybuilding. lovely :(. this is just what the sport needs is more bad publicity. who would want to play this role? it isnt exactly wonderwoman out saving the world, its about an obsessive compulsive mother that is so into bbing that she neglects her daughter, whores herself out and then takes too many steroids and goes to hell, from what i gather. i feel whoever plays this part is going to be branded like jason biggs in amercian pie, but instead of being known as the kid that f@#ked the pie, she is going to be known as the roiderchick with a d*&k. like i said, i love female bodybuilding and would love to see more women involved, and it be more mainstream, but this isnt the answer. in my opinion, a reality show following fbbs or fitness chicks through their contest preps may work, but the best thing would be just to get more contests back on TV. Why couldnt a show like the 90's show American Muscle or any show featuring bbs work on a channel like the fit channel or espn? make it something positive for a change. maybe im looking to much into this, and it is only a movie, but it sure as hell pisses me off. id love to here what others' feel about it. hopefully, you can change my opinion. love, b
I read this book a couple of years ago when I went on a muscle-book bender, reading Gorilla Suite, Body (by Harry Crews), Muscle: Confessions of an unlikely bodybuilder, FLEXibility, Iguana Love, and Chemical Pink. "Muscle" is by far the best of the lot, but Chemical Pink was definitely the runner up. I found it to be a highly enjoyable book and would absolutely watch the movie.
But you are right, casting would be difficult as such a transformation needs to take place. Perhaps they could cast two women - a before and after. Sure, its a bit of a leap, but it could work. After all, people suspend their disbelief when watching movies all the time (anyone see that Ben Afleck HBO special on Steroid Abuse???).
Anyway, please keep us updated if you have more info.