Spring Breakers 2 is breaking out of a long development hell with Bella Thorne leading the way on both sides of the camera. The former Disney Channel actress will write, direct, and star in the sequel to Harmony Korine’s highly stylized 2012 crime drama, while original producers Chris and Robert Hanley are returning in the same capacity.
“The original Spring Breakers was an iconic cultural touchstone, and taking the reins as a filmmaker is a dream project for me,” Thorne said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly. “I’m so grateful to Chris and Roberta Hanley for trusting me with their world. I’ve always been drawn to stories that explore the unapologetic, unfiltered side of youth culture, and I can’t wait to deliver a wild, high-stakes thrill ride that honors the first film while forging its own distinct path.”
According to the outlet, Hanley joined the project after seeing an early cut of Thorne’s directorial debut, Color Your Hurt—a forthcoming coming-of-age thriller following a gay man’s tumultuous journey through Oklahoma’s Bible Belt that Thorne also wrote and produced.
“Her visual style and vision to weave real-life non-actors with seasoned performers gave her version of the story an unvarnished authenticity that completely blew us away,” Chris Hanley told EW. “We invited her to bring that same raw energy to her own Spring Breakers project, and her screenplay offers a brand-new, female POV. This isn’t a traditional sequel. It’s Bella’s singular vision, capturing the rebellious DNA of the original film for a new generation.”
Spring Breakers, one of the earliest hits from independent film-fostering studio A24, stars Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine as four college students who rob a restaurant to fund a Florida spring break trip, get bailed out of jail by a drug dealer named Alien (James Franco), and are drawn into his world of guns and crime. It’s perhaps best known for its ever-present electric neon palette and nonlinear editing.
According to EW, “Thorne’s story will focus on five girls entering the wildest party of their lives on spring break, only to realize they were never guests — just targets.” While no release date or other cast members—including the previously rumored Matthew McConaughey—have been announced, Thorne did tease the general tone.
“There’s so much litness in this movie,” Thorne said of Spring Breakers 2. “I mean, from start to finish, it’s lit as fuck. We are having fun. If you wanted to go to the theater and have fun, you’re gonna have fun with this movie, that’s for sure. It’s balls to the wall. That’s what everyone says when they read the script: Balls to the wall.”