You might have thought that, having inflicted the absolutely godawful The Love Guru upon the world (without even asking for permission, which was doubly rude), that Marco Schnabel would have been banned from even seeing any more movies, let alone writing or directing them.
Yet Hollywood now appears to be working on some sort of three strikes and out policy, and so it’s just been announced that Schnabel will team up with that other comedic powerhouse, Larry Stuckey, to write Girlfriend In A Coma.
Smiths fans will, of course, instantly recognise the title of one of Morrissey & Co’s finest singles, which in turn inspired the Douglas Coupland novel of the same name. Schnabel and Stuckey’s film, though, would seem to be unrelated, given that it’s, apparently, a satirical high school comedy which focuses on an unlikely romance (could it be a romance between a guy and a girl who’s in a coma?). Our sides are just waiting to be split.
Of course, we may be just a little harsh on Schnabel – after all, blame for **The Love Guru **can be placed almost exclusively at the feet of Mike Myers. Still, Schnabel is the guy who pointed the camera at the staggeringly unfunny goings-on, and who didn’t take the opportunity to take Myers aside and tell him to cut out the self-indulgent mugging, and for that he’s got a lot of making up to do.
The film will be produced by Michael McCullers – curiously enough, another graduate of the Myers school of comedy (he co-wrote Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me) – and 3 Arts, while Fox Atomic will be scribbling the cheques.
No news yet if Schnabel is planning to make this his second outing behind the camera. Fingers crossed, eh?