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Zombie Football Book 'Play Dead' Blitzes Toward the Big Screen
by Ethan Anderton
October 28, 2010
Source: Variety
Hearing the words "zombie" and "football" in the same sentence would normally make me think of some kind of weird game kids are forced to play in gym class. However, in this case, it's simply the subject of yet another walking dead fueled film. Variety reports Ryan Brown's football centric supernatural novel Play Dead is headed to the big screen. Novelist and screenwriter Joe Schreiber, the man behind the zombie infested Star Wars book Death Troopers will adapt the novel about football player zombies bent on revenge in a gridiron-obsessed Texas town. It's a campy mix of Friday Night Lights and your zombie flick of choice.
Since the logline doesn't exactly delve into too many details, here's the official synopsis:
In the sleepy town of Killington, Tex., the local high school's football team is having its best season in decades thanks to the efforts of quarterback Cole Logan. Afraid of losing the district championship, the rival Elmwood team sends the Killington bus into a river, drowning everyone on the team except Cole and the coach. Only local witch and football fan Black Mona can raise the players from the dead in time for the game, but if they keep stopping to eat people, they might miss it.
This has all the makings of a hilarious, cheesy horror comedy and maybe even borders on a grindhouse style of film. Mark Canton who produced George Romero's Land of the Dead is behind the project along with the new production banner Lucky VIII Films (and a comic book and video game based on the book are apparently also in the works). Schreiber had his most recent unpublished, two-part young adult novel, Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick picked up by Paramount in a fierce bidding war amongst the studios, so he must be quite talented on the page. The story sounds pretty crazy, so hopefully they get the right director to do it justice. What do you think?
7 Comments
1
Oh, come on...Zombies playing football??? Well, maybe in Dallas.
The Credenza Kid on Oct 29, 2010
3
Now, I'm all for a good zom com, but it seems like there is an excessive amount of them in production right now. I can think of 3 others off the top of my head, and they'll probably all come out in the same year.
FancyMonocle on Oct 29, 2010
4
I'll be glad when the whole zombie/vampire craze just dies down!!!
jah p on Oct 29, 2010
5
I love Zombie flicks I hate football so I'll just watch Zombieland
Jimmy Love on Oct 29, 2010
6
If only it were Michael A. Arnzen's book of the same name. Now HIS Play Dead was awesome.
Dresden on Oct 31, 2010
7
if they play it ONLY for laughs, this could wind up being insanely funny...any serious notes will kill the whole thing and quickly....there is a TON of laugh potential here...given the fact that there is little difference between zombies & football players (at least on the intelligence level), this is a fresh canvas for some creative comedy...hope it pans out for 'em...
rahjneesh on Nov 4, 2010
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