Those awaiting a new Limp Bizkit album will have to wait a little longer. Fresh from directing the debut video for Puddle of Mudd, the new act on his Interscope imprint Flawless, Bizkit frontman Fred Durst has gotten the green light from Intermedia Films to direct his first feature film, “Wanna-Be,” the story of teenage mobsters in New York.
“I was stuck in a room for two days,” Durst tells Billboard.com. “It was this test to see if I can withstand [the filmmaking process]. Everyone at the company had these poker faces, so I left not knowing what was going to happen. They called me later in the day and said I was the guy for this.”
Of course, Durst’s association with his directing mentor David Fincher (“Fight Club,” “The Game”) made Intermedia’s decision a little easier. “He’s taking care of me,” says Durst. “I don’t think a lot of people could get that experience.”
Initially, Durst had been hoping to direct an indie film titled “Runt,” yet that project, which follows a high school misfit, hasn’t exactly been received warmly in Hollywood. “Wanna-Be,” inspired by an article by the late New York newspaper columnist Mike McAlary, centers around a college baseball player who, after suffering a career-ending injury, returns home to Brooklyn, N.Y. Once there, he’s pulled back into his mob-associated clique, as his hometown friends are the sons of big-time gangsters.
“It’s not ‘Goodfellas,’ but it’s definitely good,” Durst says of the script, which was written by Anthony Zuiker (“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”). “It’s really emotional. We’re looking at Paul Walker (“The Fast and the Furious”) to star in it. I think Paul needs to do a movie like this. He’s been locked into the teen thing, and this is pretty mature. I’m sure this will be R-rated.”
Of course, Durst isn’t abandoning his musical roots. He’s already rounding up his friends to create the film’s score. Durst is hoping Chad Hugo of the Neptunes and N.E.R.D. will be a principal member of the scoring committee. Durst got to know Hugo after the producer worked on the debut album for Flawless act Kenna.
“I just won’t do a cliche soundtrack where people get popular bands and throw them in the movie whenever they can get them in,” Durst says. “It’s not the right vibe. It doesn’t make the beats of the movie move right. We’re really going to have to go to old music, and create music. We’re going to have to score and compose. It’s going to be the real deal. The average person doesn’t realize how subliminal the music is. I’m going to bring in a super-heavyweight to help me out.”
This is all bad news for Limp Bizkit fans, who will have to wait until the end of next year, at the earliest, for the follow up to last year’s “Chocolate Starfish & the Hot Dog Flavored Water” (Flip/Interscope). In a recent posting on Limp Bizkit’s Web site, Durst wrote that he had begun the writing for the new album, taking his cues from all the “haters” out there who have been criticizing the band. Now Durst says he’s not the only one in the band with some pent-up anger.
“When Big Dumb Face came out, Wes [Borland] got stabbed by a lot critics,” says Durst of the Bizkit guitarist’s side-project. “It’s such a weird record. He was just having fun with it. The new stuff he’s sending me is really heavy. He’s definitely thinking about some things that are bothering him because it’s a vulgar display of power. I was like, ‘Whoa, Wes, this is the heaviest stuff you’ve ever done.’ He’s like, ‘Man, I’m taking this act beyond [Limp Bizkit’s debut album] ‘Three Dollar Bill [Y’all].'”
Durst says each Limp Bizkit member writes separately to prepare for a new album, and stresses that no new songs have yet been written. Still, in addition to the riffs he’s received from Borland, Dust says bassist Sam Rivers has also been working on new music.
“Sam’s been sending me a lot of his stuff, and his stuff is really beautiful, I guess,” Durst says. “It’s very Pink Floyd-y. So I’m hearing this vulgar power here, and Sam is on this whole Pink Floyd, melodic bassline tip, and vocally I won’t know till I get in there. Vocals come last.”
With Durst hoping to begin shooting “Wanna-Be” this fall, he can’t say when Limp Bizkit will find the time to get back in the studio. Yet he’s not concerned about taking time off from his band, admitting that right now he’s “really passionate about film,” even if he doesn’t know whether or not he’ll ever feel comfortable in the film business.
“People analyze so much in the movie industry,” Durst says. “I just read a movie and go, ‘That would be cool.’ These people analyze characters way beyond anyone would. There are so many people involved in the loop, so many chefs, and it’s much different than the music industry. It goes so much slower. Yet it’s something I know I can do well.”