Ripped from the Headlines: NYT Prom Story to Become a Movie
Back in June the New York Times published a touching article about a high school in Brooklyn for kids who have newly immigrated to the United States. The article chronicles students in their senior year who have come from countries all over the world including Senegal, Haiti, and Poland as they make their way through that time-honored American right of passage: The prom. Now Miramax Films has optioned the rights to the article, which is titled "This Strange Thing Called Prom," and will turn the concept into a movie.
This is the latest addition to a growing pile of movie ideas springing from the pages of newspapers and magazines: The rights were optioned to an Atlantic Monthly article that urges single women of a certain age to "settle" for Mr. Not-Totally-Perfect, and last month J.J. Abrams purchased the rights to another NYT article that he will turn into a movie. However, since Hollywood essentially buys the "idea" of the story, it's anyone's guess what the actual film may look like.
So what would a movie about kids who have never heard of this strange American ritual called prom look like? To check out parts of the article that might inspire a good flick,
