Dustin Lance Black has taken a stand against walls, the literal and emotional ones. The filmmaker who brought us Milk and most recently the ABC mini-series When We Rise has his next movie lined up, and it’s about a topic that Black wants all of us to open our hearts to: love. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is a YA novel by Jennifer E. Smith about a young girl named Hadley, who, after missing her flight to London, serendipitously ends up next to the perfect guy while waiting for another plane. They get separated, and fate must bring them together again — or not! In a video interview with the Wrap, Black frames the story as nearly essential in our divisive social and political climate, because it’s about a person who falls in love with someone from a “different culture, in a different country,” adding that, “We’re in a moment right now where to love, and to love bravely … well that’s a dangerous move, that is political. That is powerful. That is what we need more of.”
But what actress among us is capable of shouldering this vital social mantle, the mantle of Hadley? Black knows exactly who it should be: America’s resident teen in the movies, Elle Fanning. Black is so set on Fanning for the role, in fact, that he ends his interview by pleading with the actress to accept the part. “I just submitted it to you Elle,” he says with a small flourish of theatrics. “And you haven’t said yes yet, and I’m praying that you do. I am praying for you to be in this film. Please, please say yes.” Elle Fanning makes a lot of movies, so it seems like Black could have maybe just had his people call her people. The girl loves to work. But if Black did indeed “just” submit the pitch to her, maybe give a girl a chance to collect her thoughts, Dustin. And if it has been a minute, maybe she’s just not that into you.
