I don’t know why this news hasn’t been picked up at every entertainment blog everywhere. A comic book has been optioned for a live action “tv” show. Actually not just optioned: THE SHOW IS IN PRODUCTION! And PHOTOS OF THE STARS ARE ONLINE. Granted, there are a few quirks that make this news somehow less newsworthy than fanboy casting daydreams masquerading as “exclusives.”
#1 — it’s an indie comic. Chuck Forsman’s TEOTFW was originally published as a series of mini comics, and is now a collected edition from Fantagraphics. It’s a stark, dark and intense story about two teenaged psychopaths who go on a road trip and invade an empty house. When the house’s owner comes back, even more stark and dark things happen. As I was reading this I was thinking, “Man, if they were going to make a movie out of an indie comic, this would be one to make into a movie.”
#2 — the actual title of the comic is not one that is fit for a family newspaper. TEOTFW stands for The End of the Fucking World, the mini comic’s original title.
#3 — It’s happening in England. The comic is being adapted into a series of live action videos by up and comics UK director Jonathan Entwhistle. A test pilot is being filmed, which, if picked up by Film4 will eventually be shot for release on Vimeo. And the Starkweather/Fugate-type narrative is being shfted from unenployed America to unemployed Britain.
The TV version stars Craig Roberts, best known from Submarine, and Jessica Barden (Coronation Street) as James and Alyssa, the two tortured leads. As seen on Entwhistle’s sodial media, the visuals match the comic very closely. Forsman wrote on his blog that Entwhistle came across the comics at GOSH! in London, and noted:
P.S. this doesn’t make me a millionaire or more important than you.
…which is indeed an important message to repeat. But hopefully, this project will work out and more copies of TEOTFW will be sold, and more people exposed to Forsman’s excellent work as a result.
Delightful