John Stockwell, whose career took an exploitation turn after the success of crazybeautiful and Blue Crush, has finally broken out of the youth-in-peril genre that he’s been shackled with over the last three years (Into The Blue, Turistas). He’s about to direct Middle of Nowhere, a decently written relationship drama with Susan Sarandon as a flaky, irresponsible mom who squanders her eldest daughter’s college fund ($30 grand) on her youngest daughter’s beauty pageant campaign. I had a chance to flip through Michele Morgan‘s script earlier today, and it’s obviously a straight character-driven thing — no babes in bikinis, no buried booty, no tropical waters. Costars include Anton Yelchin, Justin Chatwin, Willa Holland and Eva Amurri.