Private Project

Jukebox Girl

Brenda, the mayor's daughter, is also known by her criminal alias, The Jukebox Girl. With the police hot on her trail, she must decide between putting her delinquent days behind her or succumbing to a life of crime.

  • Alex Richard Thomas
    Director
    Rebel Boy
  • Alex Richard Thomas
    Writer
    Rebel Boy
  • Kennedy Coe
    Producer
    Rebel Boy
  • Emily DeForest
    Key Cast
  • Brice Heller
    Key Cast
    Shake Off the World, If Loving You is Wrong
  • Carrie Ann Hunt
    Key Cast
    Magic Mike XXL, Sleepy Hollow, Edgar Allan Poe's Mystery Theatre
  • Yoel Kanchelov
    Key Cast
    Valiant, The Phenom
  • Amanda Cook
    Key Cast
    That Cake, Shades of Julia
  • Eric James Morris
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Noir, Crime, Drama, Period Piece
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes 32 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 22, 2017
  • Production Budget:
    2,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Alex Richard Thomas

Alex Richard Thomas is a film student at UNC School of the Arts with a passion for films that reimagine the past. His interest in film began with a background in directing theater in the Atlanta area. His previous film, Rebel Boy, was a finalist in the North Carolina Film Festival.

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Director Statement

From a young age, I’ve been obsessed with Juvenile Delinquent films from the 1950s and 1960s. When I met the lead actress of Jukebox Girl, Emily DeForest at UNC School of the Arts I was inspired by her look, which reminded me of a young Sandra Dee. I love the movie A Summer Place, but I always wondered what would happen if you put squeaky-clean Sandra Dee in the damaged world of Rebel Without A Cause and that’s how Jukebox Girl was born.

I wanted to appeal to my parents’ generation by making a film set in the early 1960s, which we consider to be quaint by modern standards. By the time audiences meet the depraved anti-heroine, Brenda, the imagery established in Happy Days and Grease goes out the window. I hope that by reminding older viewers of how difficult their teenage years were (exaggerated here through the lens of Noir-style films to show the weight that teenagers feel from their dilemmas), they could have a discussion with younger audiences and see that not much has changed in the last 50 years.