[A +1 to whomever gets the reference in the headline to this post. – TL]
As if forming his own production company, starring in a hit comedy TV series that didn’t suck the life out of its British predecessor, and filming a movie with fellow “it” NBC star Tina Fey as well as the sequel to Get Smart during the hiatus wasn’t enough for his career, Variety reported that Steve Carell will be the lead in a historical comedy called The Adventures of Brigadier Gerard.
From the same minds that brought us Blades of Glory, Gerard will be the story of a brave and Forrest Gump-like officer in Napoleon’s army—yes, that Napoleon—who will get into all sorts of scrapes as he follows the French emperor all over the Continent and straight into his exile by the British on St. Helena. John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky’s script in turn is based on stories from the fertile pen of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which The Guardian thinks is the reason why this movie is even being made—to cash in on the hype surrounding the two Sherlock Holmes movies already in production. Still, it’s not a half-bad idea to look backwards through literary history for comedic fodder, and of course the first book that came to my mind was Flashman: A Novel by George McDonald Fraser.
Anyone else have any funny books written before the 1900s they think would make great movies that haven’t already been done before?
Matt Guerrero says:
pirates of the penzance. I had to memorize that song in the 7th Grade. A plus
Dave says:
Napoleon was exiled to Elba, not St. Helena
Trisha Lynn says:
@Dave: He got sent into exile twice. He escaped from Elba in 1814, tried to regain his empire, got spanked at Waterloo (and don’t tell me they’re not putting that in the movie) and was sent to St. Helena in 1815.
mindmovies.eu says:
Some people are actually arguing right now about this at the forum!