For her second starring movie role, Mandy Moore is hoping to break from the goody-goody image she conveyed in her last film, “A Walk to Remember,” in which she played a minister’s naive teenage daughter who falls in love with the high school hunk. In the independent film “Try Seventeen,” which starts filming March 16 in Vancouver, Moore will play a more world-wise 21-year-old gal from the Midwest who knows a thing or two about partying and hanky-panky.
The movie stars “Lord of the Rings” hero Elijah Wood as a 17-year-old who lies about his age to get into college and moves into Moore’s apartment building. There, he learns some things they don’t teach you in school, some of which is left to the imagination since the movie features no sex scenes, Moore’s manager said.
“Try Seventeen” also stars the striking German actress Franka Potente, who set screens ablaze in “Run Lola Run,” as one of Moore’s romantic rivals. The film is being directed by Jeffrey Porter (“Train Quest,” “The Liars’ Club”), and is scheduled for a 2003 release.
Moore is also continuing work on the follow-up to her album Mandy Moore, which came out last June. At present, around five songs have been written, her manager said. Gregg Alexander (New Radicals), who worked on her last disc, will write at least two songs and Moore plans to write four songs herself. In addition, Moore will record a few covers, including Todd Rundgren’s “Can We Still Be Friends.”
Her manager emphasized that the album will be an organic rock/pop disc and will not feature any dance music. Moore will perform with a full band, and this time she’ll probably avoid Middle Eastern rhythms and lush, orchestrated numbers like “One Sided Love” in favor of simple, infectious pop songs. The disc is tentatively scheduled for the end of the year or the beginning of 2003.
In the meantime, Moore can be heard on the animated Tarzan DVD dueting with Phil Collins on “Two Worlds” and singing solo on “Song of Life.”
