Twelve: sexy trailer, poster & stills

Adapted from Nick McDonell’s novel and directed by Joel Schumacher, Twelve features Chace Crawford, Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Ellen Barkin, and Kiefer Sutherland.

The 2002 book was written when McDonell was only seventeen-year-old. The grim and gritty tale follows prep school dropout White Mike as he takes a year off to deal a new exotic drug to his privileged friends on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The kids would appear to have everything they could want but in reality they are left to their own devices by parents more interested in business trips and holidays. The teens indulge in sex and drugs, leading to all sorts of problems. (Monsters & Critics)

Roger Ebert saw Twelve at Sundance, and liked it:

Twelve is a “Less than Zero” for 2010, a savage portrait of a crowd of stupid rich kids on the Upper East Side, and how they spend their parents’ money to create perhaps irreversible damage to their lives. Holden Caulfield would have been thrown into catatonia after five minutes with them. Chace Crawford is very good as the alleged hero, White Mike, who doesn’t smoke or drink and dropped out of private school to devote himself full-time to marijuana sales. Emma Roberts plays Molly, an essentially nice girl he falls for, and Esti Ginzburg is the Popular Blonde who tells a younger kid (Rory Culkin) that if makes his parents’ apartment available for her birthday party, she’ll sleep with him.

The title comes from a trendy new drug White Mike doesn’t deal in, but he gets some from another dealer (50 Cent) to supply for party night. The film is very well acted, and dark, dark, dark. The director is Joel Schumacher, assured and fearless on a small budget and short shooting schedule which seems to add spontaneity.

Brought to you by Gaumont, Radar Pictures and Original Media, Twelve opens July 30. Poster and several official production stills after the cut.