In the tradition of great Hollywood mergers, Warner Independent Pictures has announced the tapping of Chris Bishop to scribe what is being described as Revenge of the Nerds meets Shaun of the Dead, in a retelling of the 2004 German flick Night of the Living Dorks.
The original, penned and helmed by Mathias Dinter, gained a cult following when it made it across the Atlantic in 2006. The plot focuses on three not-so-cool school friends, Phillip, Konrad and Weener, who decide to try an old voodoo ritual. Later, they die in a car accident, but live on as zombies. They soon learn that being zombies may be their ticket to popularity, or at least sex with girls.
The project will be produced for WIP by Vertigo’s Roy Lee and Doug Davison. Adam Goldberg, known for bringing geek comedies to the screen, has also signed onto the project. Goldberg’s writing credits include Fanboys and the Revenge of the Nerds remake, though this time he has taken on development. For their part, Lee and Davison bring to the table Vertigo’s reputation of developing remakes of international films. While focusing traditionally on horror and action-thriller films, Vertigo was one of the forces that brought the Oscar-winning film The Departed from its roots in Hong Kong as Infernal Affairs. Dorks will be one of the first excursions into comedy for the company.
