Project X (2012 film)
Project X is a 2012 American found footage teen comedy film directed by Nima Nourizadeh, written by Michael Bacall and Matt Drake and produced by Todd Phillips. The film follows three friends—Thomas, Costa and J.B. —who attempt to gain popularity by throwing a party, a plan which quickly escalates out of their control. Kirby Bliss Blanton, Dax Flame, Brady Hender, Nick Nervies, Alexis Knapp, and Miles Teller also star.
The title Project X was initially a placeholder for a final title, but interest generated by the secretive title kept it in place. A nationwide open casting call was employed to find fresh faces. The majority of the cast were sourced from this casting call, but a few with prior acting credits, such as Mann, were accepted after multiple auditions. Filming took place on sets in Los Angeles over five weeks on a US$12 million budget. The film is presented as a home movie from the perspective of an attendee using a camera to document the night's events.
Project X was produced by Silver Pictures and Green Hat Films, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was released theatrically in the United States on March 2, 2012, and grossed $102 million worldwide during its theatrical run. Criticism focused on the "loathsome" behavior of the lead characters and the disregard for the effects of drug use. Other reviews considered it funny and thrilling, and equated it to a modern incarnation of National Lampoon's Animal House. Following its release, organizers of various large-scale parties either referenced or used the film as inspiration, with some parties being directly named after the film.
Plot
In Pasadena, high-school students Costa and J.B. plan to throw a party for their friend Thomas Kub's 17th birthday, aiming to increase their popularity. Thomas's parents go away for the weekend, leaving him alone in the house, but warn him not to have too many people over and not to drive his father's Mercedes-Benz CLS. Thomas is reluctant to have the party at his house, but Costa continues with his plan and hires A/V student Dax to chronicle the night's events. While Costa, J.B., and Dax advertise the party throughout the school, Thomas himself invites his best friend Kirby, who has a crush on him, and Alexis, a popular girl in their school whom Thomas has his own crush on. As the boys shop for party supplies, they have a chance encounter with Miles Teller and nervously invite him to the party, only to discover that he has already heard about it through the grapevine and plans to attend.The trio then visits drug dealer T-Rick to buy marijuana, and Costa steals his lawn gnome to use as a party mascot. As they leave, T-Rick discovers the theft and chases after them, but they escape in Thomas's mini-van. As night falls, the party's start time passes, but no one turns up, and Thomas worries that the party will fail. Suddenly, partygoers arrive en masse, Miles included. Thomas intends to limit the party to the backyard and pool house, with the house guarded by Everett and Tyler, two young security guards hired by Costa. However, more and more people begin arriving, and the party moves beyond their control and into the house. Thomas begins to have a nervous breakdown in the bathroom and Costa and J.B. find him there. After J.B. admits how the party was advertised, Thomas demands an answer from Costa, forcing him to confess that he put ads on Craigslist and on a local radio station, worried that no one would attend which infuriates him. Things escalate quickly as the party draws the ire of the neighbors and the police arrive, responding to a noise complaint. However, the partygoers hide and remain silent, convincing the officers that the party has already ended. The police leave and the party resumes.
Miles Teller smashes T-Rick's gnome, revealing that it contains large amounts of ecstasy tablets, which the partygoers quickly consume, including Thomas and his friends. Thomas kisses Kirby and reveals that he loves her. Alexis meanwhile flirts with Thomas throughout the night and eventually seduces him. Kirby walks in on the pair as they are about to have sex and leaves the party upset, as does Alexis, upset with Thomas running off and being secretly filmed. The party has now escalated into violence, property damage and vandalism, which has now spilled into the surrounding neighborhood, receives televised news coverage with helicopters flying over the house. A dwarf guest drives Thomas's dad's Mercedes into the pool after being forced into an oven by other partygoers earlier.
T-Rick arrives armed with a flamethrower, setting fire to trees, cars, and houses in the neighborhood in search of Costa and in an attempt to reclaim his gnome, forcing the guests to flee and the party to end. The police shoot his flamethrower pack, and it explodes. Thomas, Costa, J.B., and Dax flee with the other guests as Thomas's house is left aflame, and the SWAT team moves in to retake the neighborhood. By morning, the boys return to their respective homes to discover what punishment awaits them. After his parents return, Thomas's father commends him for throwing such a large party because he thought he was a loser but reveals that Thomas is very much in deep trouble as his college fund will be used to cover the damages. At school, the boys are cheered by the students, and Thomas reconciles romantically with Kirby.
The epilogue reveals that T-Rick survived the explosion and is arrested for his actions; Thomas is convicted for disturbing the peace, contributing to the delinquency of minors, and inciting a riot, but is also voted most likely to succeed by his classmates. Costa and J.B. are acquitted; Costa having an expensive lawyer but awaiting results of three separate paternity tests, and J.B.'s parents convincing the court that he is mentally incapable and unfit to stand trial only for him to ride the short bus for the remainder of high school. Dax, meanwhile, is under investigation for the disappearance of his parents, due to the fact that he lives alone. In his show, Jimmy Kimmel makes jokes regarding the party, whereas Costa invites Jillian Reynolds to his next event during a television interview.
Cast
- Thomas Mann as Thomas Kub.
Mann had prior acting experience, in the feature film It's Kind of a Funny Story, and was told he could not audition for Project X because the producers wished to cast only people without acting credits. Mann ultimately auditioned seven times before winning the role. - Oliver Cooper as Costa.
The film is Cooper's feature film debut. Costa's confident nature and backstory of being unwillingly moved to the film's setting of North Pasadena from Queens, New York, was developed based on Cooper's auditions, where it was felt he gave the impression of being from New York City, despite originating from Ohio. - Jonathan Daniel Brown as J.B. The film is Brown's feature film debut.
- Kirby Bliss Blanton as Kirby: Thomas's friend, who has an unrequited crush on him.
- Dax Flame as Dax:
A friend of J.B.'s hired to chronicle the party. Flame was discovered through his personal YouTube video blog. Describing his character, Flame stated "Because he's holding the camera, my character doesn't have a lot of screen time, but when he does, it's very impactful." - Brady Hender and Nick Nervies as Everett and Tyler: A pair of children hired as security for Costa's party.
- Alexis Knapp as Alexis:
A popular high school girl. Knapp's character required nudity, something with which she was initially uncomfortable, stating "I just had a lot of moral issues with it but I got over it and I heard that it's not that revealing. So I'm relieved." Knapp described her character as a tomboy, and was given the opportunity to add to the role, move beyond a "hot chick" archetype. - Miles Teller as himself: In the film, the fictionalized Teller is both a celebrity actor and college baseball star.
Production
Development
Producer Todd Phillips described the film as an experiment, after executive producer Alex Heineman provided a basic concept, with the production team sharing tales of memorable parties that they had either attended or heard about. Writer Michael Bacall developed these stories into an outline scenario in one night with the goal of creating the "gnarliest high school party of all time". The remainder of the story was fleshed out in the following weeks. Bacall and Drake were told to "go crazy" with the script, although Bacall confessed "I was a nerd in high school so I never did anything like what's in the movie". Bacall worked on the script generally at nights between simultaneously working on the scripts for 21 Jump Street and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.It has been widely speculated that the plot was loosely based around an infamous party held by 16-year-old Australian Corey Worthington in 2008—whose party was also a clandestine, out-of-control event with hundreds of gatecrashers and widespread chaos—although this was never confirmed or denied by any of the writers or producers. Worthington became a viral sensation after being interviewed on A Current Affair by host Leila McKinnon to answer for the damage, destruction, and fear caused by the gatecrashers, and for rebuffing McKinnon's requests for him to remove his glasses. At the end of the film, the character of Costa is also interviewed on TV following the fictional party, and he has a very similar exchange to Worthington as well as being dressed in similar clothing.
Nima Nourizadeh had previously only worked directing music videos and commercials, but he came to the producers' attention for his directing work on a series of party-themed Adidas commercials. Nourizadeh explained to the producers how he would want to develop the script and how he would want the film to look and feel, and he was eventually brought from London to Los Angeles, for what he believed would be two weeks, but stretched to two years. Phillips believed that Nourizadeh's interpretation of the film was compatible with his vision, influencing the decision to hire Nourizadeh in his feature film debut.
Project X was not intended to be the title of the film, but it was kept to capitalize on interest generated by the rumored secrecy surrounding the project. Adding to the secrecy, producers decided to not send full scripts to any prospective cast member, instead providing only watermarked individual pages.