Apparently I have been living under a rock, because this is the first time I have even heard of this series . . . let alone the fact that James (Along Came a Spider, Alex Cross) Patterson wrote it!
Expected to release in October 2016, the cast will include Lauren Graham, Rob ‘Semper Fi’ Riggle, Thomas Barbusca, Andrew Daly, Adam Pally, Efren Ramirez, Isabela Moner, Alexa Nisenson, with Griffin Gluck as the protagonist, Rafe.
Steve Carr is set to direct the film from a screenplay by Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer, and Kara Holden.
The first entry in the series, Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life, chronicles the trials and triumphs of Rafe Khatchadorian (Gluck) as he uses all of his wits to battle bullies, hormones and the tyrannical, test-obsessed Principal Dwight (Daly).
Swift take: If you know me at all, you know how much I loathed my middle school years, it was a series of dodging bullies, sliding grades, and awkwardly finding out who I was with very little help from my peers and teachers. And, just to make things an extra special kind of hell, my school used to be a women’s prison in the decades before. There were rumors of a ghost, and there was an armed cop (yes, with a gun, no less!) who walked the halls, constantly. We had gang wars that were race and class driven, and for some reason the surfers and stoners were always having full on brawls.
Meanwhile, I was a “nerd” in an all boy’s choir and playing the violin in the school’s orchestra . . . sadly my violin case didn’t contain a machine gun, because it would have come in handy a few times in those years. Corporal punishment wasn’t enough to deter the chaos, and I remember laughing at Blackboard Jungle and thinking it was a comedy in comparison to my daily adventures.
So, given that this series is vastly popular, I am sure Patterson shares some of his real horror stories from middle school. I have always joked with my friends that I wish I had been put in stasis in one of those Superman pods from 6th to 8th grade, with a voice-over teaching me things by osmosis. Other than how to survive, I didn’t learn much in middle school.
Care to share your middle school horror stories?
