While promoting his latest, the Nicole Kidman drama Rabbit Hole, director John Cameron Mitchell, the always daring filmmaker who created Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Shortbus, is already teasing some of his future productions. According to Playlist, Mitchell will be collaborating with two comic book visionaries: Dash Shaw (Bottomless Belly Button and BodyWorld) and Neil Gaiman, author of the award-winning Sandman series.
With Shaw, Mitchell will be producing an animated feature, and assures, “It’s not based on anything. It’s original. It’s called The Ruined Cast. It’s going to be 2D. It’s going to be weird, surreal… Well you know his style. I keep comparing it to Philip K. Dick meets The Simpsons. And it’s brilliant. He’s gone through all the Sundance labs this year. And I’m producing it with the producer of Shortbus. We’re just finishing the script and we’re about to show it to investors, probably at Sundance.”
While I admittedly (and yes shamefully) know little to nothing of Dash and his work, I’m such a fan of Mitchell’s quirky and inventive visuals that I look forward to seeing what a long-form animation would look like through his lens.
As for Gaiman, he and Mitchell are collaborating on adapting one of his short stories, called ‘How to Talk to Girls At Parties.’ Previous Gaiman literary works that have made their way to the big screen include: Stardust and Coraline, and for those familiar with his surreal style, Mitchell could prove an ideal collaborator. This lauded short story, which is set in England during the punk-era, takes the idea of boys believing that girls are from a different planet to a whole new level. The pair is currently working on the screenplay, which Mitchell intends to direct. Color me intrigued.
You can read the sci-fi infused short story at Gaiman’s site.
What are your thoughts on Mitchell’s proposed productions?