Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden are two of the best young filmmakers in America today. They broke out with the Oscar-nominated teacher flick Half Nelson and followed that up with the little seen but excellent Sugar. While you get the feeling they could have gone more mainstream if they’d chosen to, the duo seem keen to stay in a more indie vein, making interesting, issue led dramas.
They’ve now been signed up by Focus Features to write and direct an adaptation of Ned Vizzini’s novel, It’s Kind Of A Funny Story. Despite the title, this is not jolly little rom com or gross-out flick, it’s about a depressed, suicidal 15-year-old who’s placed on an adult psyciatric ward and meets people with even more problems than he does. Although not a true story, Vizzini himself was clinically depressed as a teen and did spend time in a psychiactric hospital, and the novel has been praised for its authentic voice.
Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck would seem a great choice for a film like this, as their previous efforts suggest they’ll be able to handle it without OTT melodrama or sentimentality.