It didn’t work out so well for Michael Moore, but who is to say other documentarians can’t succeed in fiction filmmaking? Recent notables to make the switch have included Nick Broomfield (whose unscripted yet dramatized Battle for Haditha opens at New York’s Film Forum next month), Barbara Kopple, Andrew Jarecki and Seth Gordon, who originally seemed to be crossing the line to remake his own The King of Kong as a narrative feature but has instead become attached to other fiction projects.
The latest, though, is a bit of a shocker, even if he is famous for making a dramatization-heavy doc. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Errol Morris’ next project is a comedy, which he’s currently writing. Titled The End of Everything, the script is at least based on a true story and Morris says the film will be, “a new idea of how to blend drama with reality.”
Fortunately, Morris isn’t simply whoring himself out to some Hollywood romcom, as his other quote would suggest:
“I’m a funny guy, and I’d like to make something funny now,” he said. “I can’t see myself making one political film after another. I’m glad I made these two movies, but I’d like to do something different.”
Doesn’t that sound like the defense of someone suddenly going from Oscar-winning drama to kid-friendly slapstick? But since this is the guy who made a riveting film out of a 95-minute interview with a single subject — an unpopular one at that — we’re probably in for something brilliant. Or else something a thousand times more disappointing than Canadian Bacon, Havoc and The Beverly Hillbillies combined.
Anyway, I guess with so many people making docs these days, we need someone to make fiction films.
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