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on set
March 3, 2013

Photos: Franco, Gomez on the Spring Breakers Set

By Carl Swanson

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Photo: Courtesy of 424 Films

It’s been almost twenty years since Harmony Korine introduced us to his listlessly horny, decidedly un-helicopter-parented vision of teen anomie, Kids. His films just got weirder after that, the characters ever more dissociated, the landscapes almost mythically depraved. But his new film, Spring Breakers, out this month, goes back and retrieves some of that empty-eyed titillation that made Kids so fascinating to watch, only this time it’s set to Britney Spears songs. The film has the heightened rap-video bacchanalian fever-dreaminess of the MTV Beach Houses of yore—lots of slo-mo jiggling bikini bottoms (“I could watch that all day,” Korine says, with semi-ironic relish. “It’s hypnotic. Ass-hypnotic.”)—along with a heady dose of Michael Mann. It was entirely shot in the suntropolitan sprawl around Tampa–St. Petersburg, on the Gulf side of Florida, an area best known as the setting for the most recent Republican National Convention and Magic Mike.

“I came down three or four months early and just drove around, getting lost, finding places,” Korine says. To get the project going, he signed up his friend James Franco, who was drawn to the character of Alien, a dreadlocked rapper–drug dealer “gangster-mystic.” At that point—Franco agreed right after he hosted the Oscars two years back—Korine rushed down to Daytona Beach to write immersively during that annual short-term student migration. The film also stars his wife, Rachel, along with Ashley Benson, Vanessa Hudgens, and Selena Gomez.

Korine says it wasn’t difficult to get these Us Weekly denizens to let loose. Gomez plays Faith, the most morally conflicted (and only brunette) of the four college girls looking for a little drunken postadolescent transcendence on the beach. Their journey “is a mixture of profundity and retardation,” says Korine, who keeps the girls in bikinis most of the time; they’re also often clutching guns in this same state of Day-Glo display. He calls the film a “pop poem,” and despite its horndog nihilism, he’s hoping he’ll find new fans with it. Even the filming itself reminded him of the pop potency of what he was playing with. “We were using all real locations,” says Korine, and his underdressed young stars were always being chased by paparazzi. “One of the reasons the movie is so frenetic is that we were in a constant state of being chased, and trying to hide.”

*This article originally appeared in the March 11, 2013 issue of New York Magazine.

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1 / 9 Photos
James Franco as rapper-slash-drug-dealer Alien. The extras were on spring break in real life. James Franco as rapper-slash-drug-dealer Alien. The extras were on spring break in real life.

James Franco as rapper-slash-drug-dealer Alien. The extras were on spring break in real life.

Photo: Michael Muller
“I wasn’t interested in making a film that’s an exposé,” says Korine. “It’s more an impressionistic reinterpretation. It was fun for me to use iconic, familiar, very base imagery and then make it something more … finding poetry in that world.” “I wasn’t interested in making a film that’s an exposé,” says Korine. “It’s more an impressionistic reinterpretation. It was fun for me to use iconic, familiar, very base imagery and then make it something more … finding poetry in that world.”

“I wasn’t interested in making a film that’s an exposé,” says Korine. “It’s more an impressionistic reinterpretation. It was fun for me to use ...

“I wasn’t interested in making a film that’s an exposé,” says Korine. “It’s more an impressionistic reinterpretation. It was fun for me to use iconic, familiar, very base imagery and then make it something more … finding poetry in that world.”

“This is Franco and one of the ATL Twins [real-life skateboarder brothers who play Alien’s sidekicks] at this crazy all-black strip club—one of my favorite locations. They pat you down when you go in, and you look down on the girls, like gladiator pits.” “This is Franco and one of the ATL Twins [real-life skateboarder brothers who play Alien’s sidekicks] at this crazy all-black strip club—one of my favorite locations. They pat you down when you go in, and you look down on the girls, like gladiator pits.”

“This is Franco and one of the ATL Twins [real-life skateboarder brothers who play Alien’s sidekicks] at this crazy all-black strip club—one of my fav...

“This is Franco and one of the ATL Twins [real-life skateboarder brothers who play Alien’s sidekicks] at this crazy all-black strip club—one of my favorite locations. They pat you down when you go in, and you look down on the girls, like gladiator pits.”

“We found a hotel that was going to be torn down, and we talked the owners into letting the kids destroy it … It was shot during actual spring break, with real kids. We ordered a lot of pizzas.” “We found a hotel that was going to be torn down, and we talked the owners into letting the kids destroy it … It was shot during actual spring break, with real kids. We ordered a lot of pizzas.”

“We found a hotel that was going to be torn down, and we talked the owners into letting the kids destroy it … It was shot during actual spring break, ...

“We found a hotel that was going to be torn down, and we talked the owners into letting the kids destroy it … It was shot during actual spring break, with real kids. We ordered a lot of pizzas.”

“I found this pool hall—it was super-gnarly, and everyone had guns, and there were girls twerking and money floating in the air; it was perfect … The actresses were pretty freaked out. And I thought that’s what they should be feeling.” “I found this pool hall—it was super-gnarly, and everyone had guns, and there were girls twerking and money floating in the air; it was perfect … The actresses were pretty freaked out. And I thought that’s what they should be feeling.”

“I found this pool hall—it was super-gnarly, and everyone had guns, and there were girls twerking and money floating in the air; it was perfect … The ...

“I found this pool hall—it was super-gnarly, and everyone had guns, and there were girls twerking and money floating in the air; it was perfect … The actresses were pretty freaked out. And I thought that’s what they should be feeling.”

Photo: Michael Muller
“The girls would be on the phone all the time, taking photos and texting and stuff between takes. Normally you would never allow that to happen on a set. But I started encouraging it.” “The girls would be on the phone all the time, taking photos and texting and stuff between takes. Normally you would never allow that to happen on a set. But I started encouraging it.”

“The girls would be on the phone all the time, taking photos and texting and stuff between takes. Normally you would never allow that to happen on a s...

“The girls would be on the phone all the time, taking photos and texting and stuff between takes. Normally you would never allow that to happen on a set. But I started encouraging it.”

“We were in a church in Sarasota on one of the first days. It’s not hard to find churches, but I was looking for something specific having to do with light sources and color … I gave Selena a Bible. She’s kind of looking at it pensively. I think I was laughing.” “We were in a church in Sarasota on one of the first days. It’s not hard to find churches, but I was looking for something specific having to do with light sources and color … I gave Selena a Bible. She’s kind of looking at it pensively. I think I was laughing.”

“We were in a church in Sarasota on one of the first days. It’s not hard to find churches, but I was looking for something specific having to do with ...

“We were in a church in Sarasota on one of the first days. It’s not hard to find churches, but I was looking for something specific having to do with light sources and color … I gave Selena a Bible. She’s kind of looking at it pensively. I think I was laughing.”

“The first time we see Alien—when he’s rapping when the girls first escape to Florida … The guy behind the money is Dangerous, a local rapper. In many ways, heand Franco became good friends.” “The first time we see Alien—when he’s rapping when the girls first escape to Florida … The guy behind the money is Dangerous, a local rapper. In many ways, heand Franco became good friends.”

“The first time we see Alien—when he’s rapping when the girls first escape to Florida … The guy behind the money is Dangerous, a local rapper. In many...

“The first time we see Alien—when he’s rapping when the girls first escape to Florida … The guy behind the money is Dangerous, a local rapper. In many ways, heand Franco became good friends.”

Photo: Michael Muller
“From the finale. We were about to shoot this intricate, almost operatic violence: We had these lights on timers so they would change colors as they ran. Lots of Steadicams, slow motion. One of the boats we were using started to sink. It was like a war zone, on and off the camera … Everyone was exhausted.” “From the finale. We were about to shoot this intricate, almost operatic violence: We had these lights on timers so they would change colors as they ran. Lots of Steadicams, slow motion. One of the boats we were using started to sink. It was like a war zone, on and off the camera … Everyone was exhausted.”

“From the finale. We were about to shoot this intricate, almost operatic violence: We had these lights on timers so they would change colors as they r...

“From the finale. We were about to shoot this intricate, almost operatic violence: We had these lights on timers so they would change colors as they ran. Lots of Steadicams, slow motion. One of the boats we were using started to sink. It was like a war zone, on and off the camera … Everyone was exhausted.”

1 / 9

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  • spring breakers
  • movies
  • james franco
  • selena gomez
  • harmony korine
  • vanessa hudgens
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