Avril Lavigne Is Turning Her Song Sk8er Boi Into A Movie, Can We Make It Any More Obvious
In 1597, William Shakespeare introduced us to the star-crossed lovers of "Romeo & Juliet," falling in love in spite of their warring families. In 1957, the beloved musical "West Side Story" introduced the world to the tale of love being found in the midst of two rivaling street gangs. And in 2002, 17-year-old Avril Lavigne loudly declared "he was a punk, she did ballet," in her hit single "Sk8er Boi," adding yet another couple to the legion of romances found in the unlikeliest of places.
In honor of the song's upcoming 20th anniversary (ow, my age), Lavigne has announced that the tale of "Sk8er Boi" is getting the movie treatment.
"Recently with it being almost the 20th anniversary, a lot of people have been asking me to play this song on some TV shows, so it keeps getting brought back up and people will always reference it to me," Lavigne said in an episode of the She is The Voice podcast (via People).
"I'm actually going to turn this song into a film...and take it to the next level."
The song is based on her own high school experiences, with her telling the podcast, "You know what it was like in high school, you have all the different groups and cliques, and there's like skaters, preps, jocks," she said. "It's kind of like a missed opportunity at love."
She Said See-Ya L8er Boi
The song is based on the musician's own high school experiences, with her explaining, "You know what it was like in high school, you have all the different groups and cliques, and there's like skaters, preps, jocks," she said. "It's kind of like a missed opportunity at love."
"Sk8er Boi" was Lavigne's second single off her debut album "Let Go," about her rocker boyfriend and the popular girl who rejected him in high school because she felt pressured to conform to the opinions of her stuck-up friends who didn't like that he was a skateboarder in baggy clothes. The snobby girl went on to marry someone she felt fulfilled her status quo a bit better, but wound up in a loveless marriage and raising her children on her own due to her husband's inattentiveness. The titular "Sk8er Boi" goes on to become a successful musician, falls in love with Avril Lavigne, and the duo rock out to packed concerts and make serious money singing a song inspired by his one-time heartbreak while the girl who turned him down is stuck watching as just another face in the crowd.
The Canadian singer was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance in 2003 with "Sk8er Boi," and the song was a massive success, reaching the top-ten in more than ten countries, including Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. Spin Magazine even named the song as having the fifth best pop-punk chorus of the 21st century, putting Lavigne as the highest ranked woman on the list. (Only Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Yellowcard, and Jimmy Eat World ranked ahead of her.) Lavigne didn't share any additional details about the "Sk8er Boi" movie, but indicated the story will closely follow the music video.
A film based on this song was first announced way back in 2003, but nothing ever came of it. There's no word if "ER" writer David Zabel is still attached to write the screenplay, but after all this time, we're betting someone else is going to take a crack at bringing this song to the silver screen.