The 2012 found-footage comedy “Project X,” which was directed by Nima Nourizadeh, is about three North Pasadena teens named Thomas, Costa, and J.B. They throw an all-night house party to get popular, but things quickly go wrong and get out of hand.
The movie was made by Todd Phillips (who made “The Hangover”) and written by Michael Bacall (who wrote “21 Jump Street”) and Matt Drake. It is told from the point of view of A/V student Dax’s shaky camera as he wanders around a party and records all the crazy things that happen.
Even though the content is over the top and explicit, “Project X” seems plausible to anyone who has heard of or been too destructive but euphoric high school parties where drugs and testosterone are involved.
If you want to know where it came from, we’ve got you covered. Let’s find out if “Project X” is based on something that really happened.
Is Project X a True Story?
Part of the movie “Project X” is based on a true story. The teen comedy seems to be based on Corey Worthington, who is known as “Australia’s most famous teen.” In 2008, when he was 16, he threw a party while his parents were on vacation.
Worthington posted the party invite on his MySpace page, which brought about 500 people looking to have a good time to his house. The noise level went through the roof, and a neighbor’s property was damaged.
Stones were thrown and a police car was damaged, so the police sent a helicopter and a dog squad to help. Worthington’s story was, of course, all over the news.
There are a lot of similarities between Worthington’s story and “Project X.” Costa throws Thomas’s 18th birthday party not out of kindness, but so that the three of them can get girls, drugs, and fame.
People at the party also get high on marijuana and ecstasy, and a dog is set afloat in the air by being tied to balloons. An angry drug dealer drives Thomas’s dad’s expensive car into the pool and sets fire to his house. How much is too much? Well, that was the plan.
“[Movies like this] become a collection of a lot of different people’s experiences that are skewed or exaggerated,” said Todd Phillips about the real-life events that inspired the plot.
The unknown faces in the movie help sell its found-footage style and claims of realism, as they make it seem like the story could be anyone. Phillips said, “It wouldn’t seem real” if they had used well-known actors in the comedy, which was another reason why they didn’t.
Most found footage movies are about ghosts or scary things, but “Project X” tries to play with the idea by showing the extreme highs and lows of a party gone wrong for a group of teenagers (or right, depending on who you ask).
The movie tries to be like a cinéma vérité film, in which the cameraman watches and encourages the people being filmed to tell their stories.
Dax’s shaky camera work makes it seem like this kind of party is possible and has happened.
Also, the extras were given hand-held cameras and flip phones so that there would be a variety of points of view and camera qualities, showing how teens really want to record everything they see.
Even the police dashcam footage makes it more likely that this kind of party really did happen.
Kirby Bliss Blanton, who plays Kirby, said, “It’s all very, very real.” He was talking about how the crew and extras made sure that the footage recorded gave a sense of natural movement and real chaos.
Thomas Mann, who plays the host Thomas, said, “Today, everyone always has some kind of video recording device on them, so it makes sense that we’d get all these different angles at this party.”
Some viewers may find it hard to believe that the teens at the end of the movie don’t feel bad about what they did and don’t have to pay much of a price for it.
But Worthington was just as casual, if not more so, about his real-life party that caused a lot of damage. “Ask me to help you.
When asked what he would tell other teenagers who want to throw a party while their parents are away, Worthington said, “So far, it’s been the best party ever.”
From a young person’s point of view, things look very different. Also, the event was good for Worthington because it made him a celebrity right away.
He even got an agent who started to book him for parties in Australia and Britain.
In the movie, Thomas also becomes well-known at his high school, and the fact that the media covered his party made him even more popular. In fact, at the end of the movie, a news reporter talks to Costa.
The way he dresses and acts reminds people very much of what Worthington did in his famous interview with “A Current Affair.”
The movie shows how careless careless high schoolers can be. They think that because they are young, they can make mistakes and break the law and still get away with it.
The movie is very stylized, but it doesn’t make any moral judgments. Instead, it tries to show an exaggerated version of a party where teenagers’ wildest and most crazy ideas run the show.
All of the footage is shown as if it were found and not carefully put together, which gives the teen comedy an element of realism that makes it both funny and scary.
Movies like “American Pie,” “21 Jump Street,” and “Superbad” also show how the world of teenagers is both interesting and scary.
The R-rated movie doesn’t try to make the wild party look good. Instead, it shows the party as it really is, as seen through the eyes of horny, drug-happy, property-damaging high schoolers.
Even though the wild and scary people and events at Thomas’ party in “Project X” are made up, it is a known fact that many such people and parties can and have existed in real life. Worthington is proof of this.
