Freezing People is Easy
Director: Errol Morris
Writer(s): Zach Helm (Stranger Than Fiction)
Producer(s): Film Rites’ Steven Zaillian and Garrett Basch with Ira Glass, Alissa Shipp
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Paul Rudd, Kristen Wiig, Christopher Walken, Owen Wilson
A play on words from the infamous Radiohead concert film, Errol Morris has been a dominant force in the docu field and his second foray into fiction filmmaking appears to be perfectly suited for the filmmaker’s sensibilities. Not that far removed from the truth – this combines the nuttiness of the broad type of characters we would generally find on This American Life, it would most likely incorporate Morris’ genuine almost trademark interest in the human condition and the absurdities that come with it. Great cast could bring this into Gondry-esque type territory.
Gist: Inspired by Bob Nelson’s memoir We Froze the First Man and an episode of This American Life, the film charts the true story of a Los Angeles television repairman (Rudd) who attempts to pioneer the field of life-extension through a new technology called cryonics, but soon discovers that freezing dead people so scientists can reanimate them in the future is a lot more difficult than he imagined.
Release Date: Putting the final touches on his latest doc (The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld), this dark comedy appears to be in pre-production mode and is itching to get started. For it to get squeezed into the ’13 calendar, shooting will have to occur within the first three months of the year.
