Great news for people who haven’t been able to let go of 1983, the TV series Manimal might actually be coming to the big screen. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay have signed on to produce the Sony Pictures film that will be written by Key & Peele producers Jay Martel and Ian Roberts, according to the Hollywood Reporter. While no other details are known at this time, it’s only fair that we all begin wildly speculating that McKay will eventually decide to direct and Ferrell will star as Professor Jonathan Chase, who is a man that can morph into any animal he chooses for the purpose of fighting crime.
Don’t believe me that this was a real show that NBC aired from September to December of 1983? Here’s an actual scene that reveals the main character turning into a panther as other animals watch and react.
I don’t know what’s more baffling, that this show was greenlit in the first place or that it actually lasted eight episodes. The well must have been remarkably dry for NBC back in 1983. My, how the times don’t really change.
Obviously, a story this ridiculous warrants an equally ridiculous response from McKay.
“Like The Catcher in the Rye or The Sound and the Fury, Manimal has always been one of those elusive projects every producer dreams of taking to the silver screen. I know the movie will be funny and entertaining but will it be the first film to win a Pulitzer? We’ll just have to see.” (Via THR)
This idea is either going to produce one of the funniest movies of the year that it’s released in, or it will be an incredible flop. I’m leaning toward the former, but please, oh please, don’t let it star Josh Gad.