Despite the overwhelming success of The Fighter, the group of writers responsible for the film’s screenplay — Paul Tamsay, Eric Johnson, and Scott Silver — have wasted no time basking in their success. Instead, all three writers have turned to the Old Testament for inspiration for their next projects, with Silver writing a futuristic interpretation of Samson & Delilah, and Tamsay and Johnson working together on Joe, which brings the tale of Job to a modern-day setting. [The Playlist]
For those unaware of Job’s story, The Playlist’s Oliver Lyttelton has put together a nice summary of the Biblical tale, and has also pointed out the parallels that Tamsay noted in a recent interview on the Movie B.S. podcast:
…[The] Book of Job details what happens when Satan challenges God to remove his protection of a pious man called Job, who then suffers a series of calamities—his possessions, home and family are all destroyed in a test of his righteousness. Tamasy reveals that the new version involves the titular man, who’s living “the American dream. He’s got the nice house, white picket fence, great kids, great wife, nice cars. God and the devil get together every thousand years to bet on a man’s life, and the fate of the world is at stake. What all of us get hit with in a lifetime, this man gets hit with in one week. And it’s about whether or not he can still pick himself up from that and survive it. It’s a dramedy. At it’s heart, it’s a comedy — but it’s got, obviously, a real dramatic core to it.”
Lyttleton goes on to mention, rather expectedly, that the screenwriting duo has been courting David O. Russell (The Fighter) to direct the film. His upcoming slate, though, is jam-packed with potential projects, but the lack of a confirmed director hasn’t kept star Will Smith from attaching himself to Joe. Smith, of course, was last seen in the disappointing Seven Pounds.
Considering how well the Coen brothers’ attributed both comedy and drama to Job’s tale in A Serious Man, the decision of these two Oscar-nominated writers to approach the same material in a similar fashion is both interesting and promising.
Do you think this project sounds promising?