by MATTHEW HAYS

Montreal actor Jacob Tierney insists hustling fits right into the Charles Dickens universe. “Dickens’ novel was all about the exploitation of youth,” Tierney says. “Then, it was working in mines and factories - now, we exploit them for their sexuality.”

Thus the 23 year old has written a feature-length screenplay based on the Dickens classic, titled simply Twist, in which the young men at the heart of the film are selling their bodies on the streets of the big city. The idea of updating the saga came to Tierney, he recalls, when he caught a production of the Sam Mendes version of the musical Oliver! in London’s West End a few years ago. “That was such an excellent show. I just let my mind wander and began writing it.”

Tierney, who is also directing, is shooting the film right now in Toronto. As well as introducing the hustling element to his screenplay, Tierney also leaned more heavily on the musical for structural inspiration than the primary source material. “The book has these huge, 150-page digressions,” he laughs. “They don’t lend themselves so well to taught screenwriting.”

Tierney has made the Artful Dodger into Dodge, the narrator and protagonist, rather than Oliver Twist himself. And though the structure is lifted from the musical, this film will have an aura far closer to Larry Clark’s oeuvre than the ’60s British epic movie.

Starring in Tierney’s feature directorial debut will be Nick Stahl, the wunderkind from In the Bedroom who’s also just wrapped on Terminator 3, in which he plays opposite Schwarzenegger’s legendary cyborg. “I thought it was a really cool idea,” says Stahl. “Reprising the story in a contemporary setting made a lot of sense.” (Tierney and Stahl’s three-year stint as roomies in L.A. helped to cement the casting deal.)

Tierney has appeared in a broad range of projects as an actor - everything from This Is My Father with James Caan to Terence Davies’ The Neon Bible with Gena Rowlands - which prompts the question: which director has most influenced Tierney on his new path as director? Tierney pauses. “You know, I’ve worked with such a wide variety of people. Sometimes, you learn from the bad ones as much as the good. I learned a great deal from Jerry Ciccoritti [Tierney starred in the director’s The Life Before This]. But I think overall, probably Davies - that man has so much integrity. You wouldn’t really know it from watching his movies, because they’re so serious. But he’s the easiest person to work with - a very funny man.” :

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