Bret Easton Ellis rose to fame in the 80’s with his book, Less Than Zero, which was published in 1985 and in 1987 became a movie starring Robert Downey Jr., Andrew McCarthy, Jami Gertz, and James Spader. Now, I am thrilled to report that Bret Easton Ellis told MTV his latest book, Imperial Bedrooms, will be released in May 2010 and, get this, is a sequel to Less Than Zero.
Less Than Zero was a story of 80’s excess and defined a generation. It featured privileged, yuppie teens in Los Angeles who battled drug addictions, drinking and sexual indiscretions amongst other things. The movie became a cult hit and, unfortunately, a prequel for Robert Downey Jr.’s substance abuse filled future. Downey Jr. is now sober and that’s good news because Bret Easton Ellis wants him to reprise his role as Julian in the movie sequel. Imperial Gardens is set in the present day and fills in the blanks on what we missed between then and now. The story revolves around the same group of naughty teens and tells us how they survived the 80’s and what they’re currently up to.
“I first thought [they’d be dead] when I started thinking about it; when I began to outline the book and figure out who’s going to be around and who’s not – some of the main people are going to be okay,” Easton Ellis laughed. “There was some supporting cast that I realized was expendable – you knew something bad was going to happen to them. But the leads? Yeah, they kind of stuck around.” He also said of their current lives, “This book is pretty dramatic, in terms of how complicated the relationships have gotten in the last twenty years.”
Bret Easton Ellis is now hoping that a movie would reunite the all-star cast. After Robert Downey Jr.’s drug difficulties and triumph over them, the author feels the actor could bring something extra-special to the sequel. “His character in the book is sober. Fragile, but sober.”
Famespy 