Zombie Movie ‘Breathers’ Attracts Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Scarlett Johansson
Stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Scarlett Johansson are "loosely attached" to the film adaptation of the novel Breathers: A Zombie's Lament, from producer Diablo Cody (Juno).
Juno scriber Diablo Cody will try her hand at producing with the upcoming adaptation of the zom-rom-com novel Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament. The film version reportedly has two big names – Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Scarlett Johansson – who are currently “loosely” attached to star.
Breathers tells the tale of a regular man named Andy (presumably Gordon-Levitt’s role) who is resurrected and returns to the world of the living as a zombie. Society as a whole is prejudiced against Andy’s kind and the undead gentleman is therefore forced to find his way in a world that denies him even the most basic of human rights. Johansson would assumedly play Andy’s human love interst, Rita.
The screenplay for the film adaptation of Breathers has been written by Geoff LaTulippe, who also scripted this week’s Drew Barrymore/Justin Long rom-com Going the Distance. Cody is only producing the project, so Breathers is unlikely to contain the Oscar-winning screenwriter’s trademark “hip,” pop-cult-referenced-filled dialogue. After Jennifer’s Body, a lot of moviegoers might be thankful for that. 😛
Gordon-Levitt is still rumored to be a prime candidate to play the villain in Batman 3, while Johansson may have competition to play the female lead in director Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity. Both performers are hot commodities and their possible involvement with Breathers should only aid the film in attracting a name director to come onboard as well.
Zombies certainly seem to be all the rage nowadays, with movies like Zombieland and the comic book series The Walking Dead becoming a hit with fans of the horror creatures. Breathers looks to benefit from that craze – though it sounds like the tone of the film will bear a stronger resemblance to that of director George A. Romero’s metaphorical Dead movies.
Shaun of the Dead is the only other film released up to now that truly contained elements of both the romantic comedy and zombie movie genre – it was also largely a parody, which Breathers looks not to be. Moviegoers should also expect the protagonist, Andy (be he Gordon-Levitt or not) to be more sympathetic and easier on the eyes than the un-dead characters in that Edgar Wright comedy.
We will keep you posted on the development of Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament as more news is released.
