Wesley Wang’s Journey of Nothing
*Friday Find* / A short film about characters in high school, made while in high school, will now find its voice in a big screen adaptation.
Just when you thought the whole ‘drop out of school and change the world’ thing might have lost its buzz, along comes film director, producer, polariser and auteur Darren Aronofsky. Some time ago he emailed a Harvard student with the eloquently phrased proposition “can you drop out of harvard?”. It was prompted by something he had just watched on Youtube.
This is the film that student made- nothing, except everything.
Wesley Wang has been ‘making films’ since he was 11, and even if you consume the pinch of salt that might come with such a description, he has (legit) made short films released into the circuit since his high school years. Fired, it would appear, by his desire, his endless fundraising efforts, and his talent.
A few days ago, TriStar Pictures snapped up film rights, for a feature adaptation that Wang will write & direct for the big screen, with Aronofsky‘s Protozoa producing. Yes, adapted from ‘nothing, except everything’. *He made ‘nothing, except everything’ through his final year of high school. Its 2023 release in the short film circuit added to Wang’s awards from 2020- before ‘going viral’ on Youtube, releasing enough goodwill into the ether to get Aronofsky into emailing him.
To be clear, this is no ‘filmed this on my phone and posted on Youtube’ fly-by-night success story. The film had over a dozen cast and a crew of over 30.
Its aesthetic appeal, writing style and overall statements are up for much discussion (as quick peeks at Letterboxd or reddit forums will reveal), but Wang is 19- he speaks from and for his generation, and just for that, it is a perspective well worth peeking into without the cynicism of age or experience.
“There’s this ever-increasing feeling of nihilism and existentialism in today’s youth. It just feels like the world is getting more polarized and chaotic every day, and especially the youth is feeling this more with climate change and all these existential issues,” *
A chess master, musician and filmmaker studying economics, Wang seems to be powering through life with the unique appetite that (some of) the very young and the very talented are often given.
Because in truth, there is no such thing as a “rational decision," only the intensity of passion, and thereby ignorance. *
From all I can tell though, he is not dropping out of Harvard just yet.
I find that oddly reassuring.
Hat tip to TrungPhan. Wesley’s YT with other shorts. Other pieces on The Harvard Crimson, nofilmschool, Envi.
'Friday Find' is where I share something I found, on a Friday. (I share it on a Friday, it might have been found on Thursday. Or Tuesday. Or...you get it).