Lola is part Asian and suffers a miscarriage on the grounds of the all-girls school. It is uncertain whether the screenplay was adjusted or the missing parts of the book were filmed and removed to meet a lower certificate. Production Rights to the novel were purchased by first time producers Alex Cutler and Michael Wilcox in 1985. They had been trying to obtain the rights to another Australian novel but had difficulty negotiating with the author; someone suggested they have a look at The Delinquents, which Penguin were about to reissue. They obtained finance from the New South Wales Film Corporation and Australian Film Commission and hired Lex Marinos to write a draft. In 1987 David Bowie announced in an interview he thought the book would make a good film, which re-ignited a great deal of interest in the project. It was announced that he would compose the film's score but subsequently distanced himself from the film's production, and interviewed in 1990, he cited "a large artistic disagreement with [the] producers" over the direction of the film as the reason he was no longer involved in the film. He said, "the book that I read and the film that they were making had nothing to do with each other", adding "it was a wonderful little book and it should have been a little film. It should have been an Australian film." The Australian Film Commission provided further script development money enabling Dorothy Hewett to write a second draft. Greg Coote and John Tarnoff of Village Roadshow became involved and Coote suggested Kylie Minogue play the lead. It was the first major film from Village Roadshow's film production company. At one stage Ben Mendelsohn was signed to appear opposite her but eventually it was decided to go with an imported actor so the film might appeal to an international market: Charlie Schlatter was chosen. Chris Thomson was approached to direct. He did not like the script but thought the book was wonderful, so managed to persuade the producers to hire Mac Gudgeon, who had made Waterfront (1983) with Thomson, to work on the script. Village Roadshow agreed to provide half the budget and the producers applied to the FFC for further finance in October 1988. The film was partly shot at Warner Bros studios on the Gold Coast. Release and reception After a London world premiere, The Delinquents opened in Australia