|
Date: 2009
Place: USA
Them, a recently announced feature to be directed by Sean of the Dead and Hot Fuzz’s Edgar Wright, is not, as far as we can tell, an update of the hoary old giant ant chiller but a fictionalised adaptation of Jon Ronson’s investigative book about the shadowy conspiracies that operate behind our notional governments. Unless it turns out that the Illuminati and the Bilderberg Group actually are all enormous ants.
Universal Pictures has acquired rights to the Jon Ronson book "Them," which will be used as the basis for a Mike White script to be directed by Edgar Wright ("Shaun of the Dead").
Jack Black and White will produce under their U-based Black and White banner along with Wright and Nira Park.
Them, an exploration of extremists, is described as a conspiracy comedy about one woman's journey to unmask the secret rulers of the world. White and Wright are using elements of it to hatch the story White will write.
U president of production Donna Langley is overseeing the pic with veep of production Damien Saccani.
White, who last scripted "The School of Rock," is working on "Nacho Libre," a comedy that stars his partner, Black, as a priest who moonlights as a wrestler to save an orphanage. Jared Hess ("Napoleon Dynamite") is directing. White wrote the script with Hess and his wife, Jerusha Hess.
After making his breakthrough on the comical zombie pic "Shaun of the Dead," Wright has been producing and directing "Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life" for Universal.
"Them" is not based on the 1954 atomic-age sci-fi classic of the same name.
In this crazy world that we live in, there's a terrible tendency to take extremism seriously. Now, sure, there are a few violent mixed nuts out there, but let's not forget that some extremists believe that the world's ruling elite are descended from giant lizards, or that others enjoy wearing pointy white sheets on their heads or worship owl effigies. So it's good news that Edgar "Shaun of the Dead" Wright is lined up to direct Them, about adventures with extremists.
The film's based on the book "Them: Adventures With Extremists" by satirical journalist Jon Ronson, with the screenplay to be adapted by Mike "School of Rock" White. The film is described as a "conspiracy comedy", with the main character (who's set to be a woman onscreen, although it's Ronson himself in the non-fiction book) investigating various extremists in an attempt to find the real rulers of the world.
There's no word yet on when this will fit in to Wright's increasingly busy schedule, as he's also down to make long-awaited British action-comedy Hot Fuzz (stop reading this, Wright, and get back to work on that!) and romantic odyssey Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life. He was also rumoured to be close to signing on to direct the proposed big screen outing for titchy superhero Ant-Man.
But then, Mike White is rather busy too, since he's on screenwriting duties for Nacho Libre with buddy and producing partner Jack Black (who'll also be producing this, along with White, Wright and Shaun of the Dead producer Nira Park). So there's no word on a start date, but we'll let you know more as soon as we do.
And from the Ain't It Cool website...
Edgar Wright's THEM?
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here... I know what you're thinking, from ANT-MAN to THEM, ol' Edgar must have a fixation on bugs! However THEM is not a remake of the classic '50s sci-fi flick THEM!, but rather an adaptation of the Jon Ronson book THEM: ADVENTURES WITH EXTREMISTS. Variety says that Mike White (SCHOOL OF ROCK) will write the screenplay and produce along with Jack Black under their production banner Black and White (creative, no?).
Amazon's summary on Ronson's book:
In Them, British humorist Jon Ronson relates his misadventures as he engages an assortment of theorists and activists residing on the fringes of the political, religious, and sociological spectrum. His subjects include Omar Bakri Mohammed, the point man for a holy war against Britain (Ronson paints him as a wily buffoon); a hypocritical but engaging Ku Klux Klan leader; participants in the Ruby Ridge and Waco, Texas, battles; the Irish Protestant firebrand Ian Paisley; and David Ickes, who believes that the semi-human descendants of evil extraterrestrial 12-foot-tall lizards walk among us. Despite these characters' disparities, they are bound by a belief in the Bilderberg Group, the "secret rulers of the world." In a final chapter, Ronson manages, with surprising ease, to penetrate these rulers' very lair. He writes with wry, faux-naive wit and eschews didacticism, instead letting his subjects' words and actions speak for themselves.
Sounds like it could be a great satire on extremism... I especially like that knock on Scientology in the summary. Consider this book ordered for me! Anyone read it? Let us know how it is in talkback!
© Source link: http://www.jonronson.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=680&sid=5bdde2305979b8a69b194da79d1d61e6
Add your comment
|
