Jason Segel Will Remake Punk Rock Dad Doc “The Other F Word”
Pitches for Hollywood comedies don’t get much easier or more straightforward than “punk rocker becomes dad,” but this perfect movie idea isn’t a concept out of the mind of a screenwriter. It comes from real life, through a book called “Punk Rock Dad: No Rules, Just Life” and finally via the documentary The Other F Word (previously written about here). Now, according to Deadline, actor/writer Jason Segel (The Muppets; SLC Punk) and writer/producer Drew Pearce (Iron Man 3) are teaming up to adapt the material for a narrative feature for Fox.
When I first saw the Fox name, I thought this news was about a sitcom version of the documentary, which I could imagine happening and quickly being canceled (I pictured it being like the failed That ’80s Show). But knowing it’s in the hands of Segel makes me intrigued. As much as I foresee a silly remake of some surprisingly endearing and borderline tearjerking true stories here, I also anticipate some amusing punk rock songs from the guy who gave us “Dracula’s Lament” and other amusing but well-composed tunes in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Docs on DVD: “Thunder Soul”; “Resurrect Dead”; “Queen: Days of Our Lives”; “A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies”; “The Other F Word’
This week’s new home video releases for documentary nearly have an interesting pattern. When put in alphabetical order, as I normally do, the titles are a nearly complete set from O to T. The only letter missing is S. We could make up for that, I guess, by including the VOD debut of Swastika, which hit DVD weeks ago. Other than that, there’s not much to link these docs, which cover film history, urban folk mysteries and music. Well, there are three that are music related. Here are five docs now on DVD as of January 31, 2012:
Jamie Foxx presents this crowd-pleasing doc from director Mark Landsman, a former producer at Morgan Spurlock’s 30 Days series. The film depicts a reunion of high school band mates after 35 years, as they perform a tribute concert to their 92-year-old former teacher. Somehow I’ve missed this one while many of my non-doc-focused colleagues have reviewed it, and quite positively I might add. Apparently people like it:
Nominated for Best Documentary at the 2011 Independent Spirit Awards — Winner of the Lone Star States Audience Award at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival — Winner of Best Feature Documentary at the 2010 Indie Memphis Film Festival — Winner of Best Feature Documentary at the 2010 Pan African Film Festival — Winner of the Audience Award at the 2010 Hot Docs Film Festival — Winner of the Audience Award for Documentary Feature at the 2010 Dallas International Film Festival — Winner of the Audience Award at the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival — Winner of the Audience Award at the 2010 Aspen Film Festival — Winner of the Crystal Heart Award at the 2010 Heartland Film Festival.
Docs in Theaters: “My Reincarnation” “The Other F Word” “Urbanized”
Just a few new documentaries opening theatrically this week, including one that doesn’t debut until Wednesday. Two of them coincidentally deal in paternal subjects, though this isn’t exactly a rare subject for nonfiction film. Neither are the typical first-person kind in which the filmmaker documents his relationship with his father, however. As for the third film, it’s a highly anticipated “sequel” to two of the most popular docs of the last few years.
Here are your three new theatrical releases followed by the weekly list of docs still in cinemas:
I’m going to guess this documentary about punk rock stars who are now fathers will most appeal to punk rock fans who are now fathers. The fans who are still in the gutters, maybe not. “The Other F Word” was directed by Oscar nominee Andrea Blaugrund (she produced Mel Damski’s recognized short “Still Kicking: The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies”) and features such famed punks as Flea, Lars Frederiksen, Rob Chaos, Tony Hawk, Fat Mike and many others. It opens in theaters November 2.
