Michel Gondry and Vincenzo Natali have struggled to adapt, respectively, Ubik and Neuromancer in recent years, and now another cult sci-fi classic looks likely to beat both to the screen. Steve Carell is starring in **IQ 83, based on the 1978 novel by Arthur Herzog (the political speech writer who also wrote The Swarm and Orca). Charlie Kaufman has signed on to write the screenplay.
IQ 83 centres on Dr. James Healey (Carell's role), leader of a group of scientists involved in DNA research and accidentally responsible for unleashing a pandemic that reduces people's intelligence. Healey has to rush to contain the outbreak and find a cure, as the masses devolve into packs of fools. But he's quickly ceasing to be the intellectual he recently was, having been afflicted himself.
Carell's presence perhaps suggests a broadly comedic take on Healey's serious novel, but the intention for the film is more along the lines of a biting social satire on a Fox News-loving America. Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove is being mentioned as a touchstone.
Producer Andrew Lazar (American Sniper, Get Smart, Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind) has had the project developing for 20 years, but has never yet cracked a workable script. Kaufman will be starting the whole thing over from scratch, and there's confidence that the writer of Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich and Adaptation is the perfect man for the job.
Walter Parkes (Men In Black, Sweeney Todd) is also among the producers, but there's no director or start date yet. Herzog's novel isn't in print here in the UK, but is published in the States by iUniverse.