Will Ferrell And Adam McKay: Duo To Turn 80's Drama 'Manimal' Into Comedy [VIDEO]
Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, the comedy minds behind films such as Anchorman, are known for their supremely goofy, silly films, and as such perhaps they are the perfect people to turn a ridiculous action drama from the 80's into a comedy.
On Tuesday, HitFix reported that Ferrell and McKay, with their production company Gary Sanchez, will produce a movie version of NBC's show Manimal.
Manimal ran for eight episodes in 1983, and featured a crime fighting fellow who could transform himself into animals. Yes, this was in fact a show once, and yet it played it straight with this concept. Obviously, McKay and Ferrell don't intend to do that. Manimal has become a cult classic due to ironic appreciation, so it seems to be right up the Gary Sanchez alley. Then again, Ferrell tried this same thing more or less with Land of the Lost, and that ended up being a disaster.
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The film will be a mix of live action and animation, and also is being billed as an action comedy. This may keep the movie version of Manimal from falling into the trap of cheesy special effects that the show did, but, then again, that's part of the charm to most. The movie is being written by Jay Martel and Ian Roberts, who work on Comedy Central's Key & Peele, and Roberts is one of the founders of Upright Citizens Brigade.
McKay joked in the announcement of the movie that he's hoping it will be the first film to win a Pulitzer. He'll likely settle for their being an actual market for a comedy take on a short-lived, semi-obscure show about a magic man who could turn into animals.
