EXCLUSIVE: Ray Nicholson (Licorice Pizza), Elizabeth Lail (Mack & Rita), Leila George (Animal Kingdom) and Grammy winner Rick Springfield (Ricki and the Flash) have signed on for roles in Oscar and Emmy winner Patricia Arquette’s feature directorial debut, Gonzo Girl, based on the novel of the same name by Cheryl Della Pietra.
The actors join an ensemble led by Camila Morrone, which also includes Willem Dafoe and Arquette, as we told you first.The film currently in production in Utah is set in 1992 and follows aspiring writer Alley Russo (Morrone), who has an exciting new job as the assistant to legendary “gonzo journalist” Walker Reade (Dafoe), living in his compound/party house in Aspen.
Under orders to help the famously chaotic Walker settle down to work on his long-promised latest blur of fact and fiction, Alley soon learns the truth: a lifetime of chronic substance abuse has chipped away at Walker’s writing ability, until all he can produce from his drug-drenched brain are pages of word salad.
Obliged to help a manic, sodden blowhard get through one relatively uncreative day after another, Alley begins to transform Walker’s rants and raves into publishable prose by running it through the filter of her own mind and her own typewriter, an act of moral support/plagiarism/treachery that keeps Walker’s career alive — for a few more months.Nicholson will play major movie star and former teen heartthrob Larry Lukes, who is a regular guest at Walker’s compound because he has optioned the writer’s most famous book, with Lail as Walker’s current girlfriend Devaney Peltier, who appears to enjoy the absolute chaos that goes with his lifestyle.
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