Patricia Arquette’s directorial debut, Gonzo Girl, is slowly but surely assembling an Oscar-worthy cast. Adapted from Cheryl Della Pietra’s novel of the same name, the film stars Patricia Arquette, Camila Morrone (Death Wish), and Willem Dafoe (The Lighthouse) as a recent college grad who works as an assistant to a famous but ageing journalist. Other members of Arquette’s cast besides Morrone and Dafoe are Ray Nicholson (Promising Young Woman), Elizabeth Lail (Mack and Rita), Leila George (Animal Kingdom), and Grammy-winning artist Rick Springfield. Gonzo Girl is set in the early 1990s when young author Alley Russo (Morrone) is trying to make a name for herself in New York City’s cutthroat publishing industry.
Russo thinks she has found her foot in the door when she lands the role of assistant to famous “gonzo journalist” Walker Reade (Dafoe), working out of his Aspen party home. Working as the famous author’s secretary turns out to be less glamorous for Alley than she had anticipated. Alley has been asked to “babysit” Reade and “herd him” into writing his next work, but he soon discovers that Reade’s creative talent has been greatly impaired due to years of substance addiction.
Alley, unable to abandon either the work or the writer, resolves to translate Reade’s incoherent ravings into readable writing. What will happen to Alley’s career if he follows up where Reade left off, a move that veers dangerously close to plagiarism? Though details about Springfield’s position in the film remain under wraps, it has been announced that Nicholson would portray Larry Lukes, a Hollywood movie star and former adolescent heartthrob.
After purchasing Reade’s most well-known work, the celebrity began making regular trips to his Aspen estate. Lail will play Devaney Peltier, Larry Lukes’ glamorous and chaotic current girlfriend. In the script, George is presented as a stunning actress named September McAvoy who plays Lukes’ co-star and potential romantic interest. Nicholson most recently appeared alongside Sean Penn and Alana Haim in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza. Promising Young Woman and Now Is Everything is two of his other feature film credits. Nicholson will be working with Zoey Deutch of Not Okay in a romantic comedy for Amazon Prime.
An Item Purchased At Tiffany & Co. Lail rose to fame as Penn Badgley’s obsessive love interest Guinevere Beck in the Netflix series You, and she presently stars alongside Diane Keaton in Katie Aselton’s Mack & Rita. She has appeared on both Once Upon a Time and Gossip Girl. George has been in movies including Mortal Engines and 2019’s The Kid alongside Ethan Hawke, but she is most recognised for her recurring role as Janine “Smurf” Cody on TNT’s Animal Kingdom. Unknown at this time, Springfield is an Australian musician who has appeared in several films, including Battlestar Galactica and Ricki and the Flash. A number of viewers may remember him from his roles in popular shows including The Goldbergs, Supernatural, Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story, and Californication.
The film will be produced by Frank Hall Green of Catch & Release Films, Tom Heller of Rh Negative, Cameron O’Reilly of Bayard Productions, and David Arquette of Catch & Release Films and Bayard Productions. Gonzo Girl is now in development in Utah, but there is no word yet on when the film will be released.