HitFix

HOLY KITTEN! Emily Carmichael is directing ‘Lumberjanes’

by: Uproxx authors

Strange things are afoot at summer camp! Boom! Studios Lumberjanes looks to have found its director. And it's a woman.

Created by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis and Noelle Stevenson, Lumberjanes has been a big hit for Boom! Studios from the very beginning. The Eisner Award-winning all-ages series follows a group of girls named Mal, Ripley, Molly, April, and Jo at summer camp, where they get into some supernatural escapades. It's as if Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Goonies had a baby that really loved puns. The camp name? Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet's Camp for Hardcore Lady Types.

It's great.

The Wrap reports Emily Carmichael is set to direct the adaptation for 20th Century Fox. Boom! execs Ross Richie, Stephen Christy, and Adam Yoelin are serving as producers and Will Widger is writing the screenplay. At the time of the original adaptation announcement, that was a cause for concern with fans of the very female-centric piece. Sources close to the production had told me they looked at 30 writers, got 12 pitches, and his was just the closest to the tone and spirit of the comic.

Stevenson, whose comic Nimona is also getting a film, talked to Vanity Fair last year about that choice:

That is definitely an issue for me, and I definitely tried to throw my name into the hat whenever possible, but it just doesn”t happen for someone who”s never written for movies before. I mean I get why it didn”t happen. I do wish that it hadn”t been the first news released about the Lumberjanes movie. But, you know, it”s Hollywood and, in a lot of ways, Hollywood is very different than comics. I think comics has this rap of being misogynistic, and that”s certainly not untrue. But it also is what it is. It”s not that hard to spot. And in some ways, that”s easier to stomach than a world where it”s just like, Well that”s just how it is … we choose the best person for the job … there just were no women. It just happens a lot and we”re a lot further away from being able to have those conversations about Hollywood.

So it is a big relief for fans, myself included, that they've hired a woman for this one. And it isn't the first comic book project Carmichael's name has been connected to. Along with Niki Caro and Jennifer Kent, she's one of a few female directors possibly in the running for Marvel Entertainment's Captain Marvel starring Brie Larson. She's also done some Squirrel Girl cosplay, which has our ears perked considering the conversation happening recently around that character.

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But the creator has been blowing up pretty fast. She's writing Pacific Rim: Maelstrom for Steven DeKnight and directing Powerhouse, the next big project from Steven Spielberg and Colin Trevorrow. Boom! Studios has also been very busy of late. They've got The Woods optioned for television, and more recently Rogue One: A Star Wars Story writer Gary Whitta was hired to write their Mouse Guard film adaptation.

I've reached out for comment to Boom!, Stevenson, and Carmichael and I'll update the post should they have anything to add. Meanwhile, the official Lumberjanes Twitter account had some things to add:

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