2010 was very good to Jay Baruchel. Between She’s Out of My League, How to Train Your Dragon, and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, it felt like he was in every movie that was coming out for a period of six months. With the acting portion firmly in place, Baruchel is now adding another wrinkle to his entertainment career, that of a screenwriter. Heat Vision reports that the actor has signed on to adapt the Kickstart Comics property Random Acts of Violence and is in talks with Summit Entertainment to take a crack at the script for The Exorcism Diaries. He will doing both alongside Jesse Chabot, his writing partner.
Random Acts of Violence was a comic originally written by the team of Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, who are most notable for DC’s Jonah Hex revamp that began in 2005 (not the movie though, don’t worry). It follows two comic book creators named Ezra and Todd who create Slasherman, the “ultimate horror character.” Slasherman is a big hit and the two become superstars. While on a signing tour, however, people start dying left and right and the two realize that the Slasherman fandom has taken a very bloody life of its own.
Kickstart Comics is run by Jason Netter, a movie (2008’s Wanted) and television (SyFy’s Painkiller Jane) producer. The company was founded last year as an imprint of his Kickstart Entertainment company. Netter also has film adaptations of comics Preacher, The Boys, and Monster Attack Network in development.
As for The Exorcist Diaries, I’m going to let Bloody Disgusting take the reigns on this one:
Summit’s tale centers on a reporter searching for the truth behind the most famous exorcism in history, but soon discovers that the real-life story is not quite finished. As a result, she finds herself in harm’s way of the same supernatural entity that she is chasing.
It should also be noted that the book this movie is based on, “The Real Story Behind the Exorcist” by Mark Opsasnick, goes into much more than just exorcisms; it also explores Washington D.C.-area horror legends like The Haunted Boy and The Ghost of Crybaby Bridge. One would assume the movie won’t be going into these areas since it’s called The Exorcism Diaries but one would also have to question why they even needed the rights to a book to do this story. I guess we’ll see when it’s done. Baruchel’s involvement is in a rewriting capacity, as a script has already been completed.
But fear not movie fans, Baruchel isn’t quitting the acting game to write the next Hollywood masterpiece. He recently finished shooting Goon, a hockey comedy that co-stars Seann William Scott that he co-wrote with Evan Goldberg (Seth Rogen‘s frequent collaborator). He’s also joined the cast, alongside Robert Pattinson, for David Cronenberg‘s upcoming film Cosmopolis and then there’s the How to Train Your Dragon sequel which shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone who understands how Hollywood operates.
Do you think Baruchel will make a good screenwriter? What do you think of his first two choices in projects?