There are quite a few screenwriters that we here at The Playlist think are incredibly overrated. Someone like Allan Loeb (“21,” “The Switch“) comes to mind, but Aline Brosh McKenna wouldn’t be far behind him. She’s a rom-com writing star, penning films like “27 Dresses” and “Morning Glory,” though she hasn’t had much critical success since “The Devil Wears Prada” in 2006. It’s possible that she’s moving away from her roots, as Deadline reported yesterday that she’s signed on to adapt graphic novel “Rust: Visitor in the Field” for 20th Century Fox.
“Rust” hasn’t even hit bookstore shelves yet with a release date of September from Archaia Entertainment, but it clearly caught Fox’s eye as a winner. Author Royden Lepp tells the story of boy Jet Jones, who crashes into a family’s farm in the middle of America after being pursed by a decommissioned war robot. Jet Jones could be the war-ravaged farm’s savior or just a danger to the entire town. The movie is being produced by Archaia’s Stephen Christy and Simon Kinberg from Fox.
It’s hard to say whether the studio will take a family approach or amp it up to compete with comic book adaptations. Either way, this is hardly McKenna’s normal cup of tea. She just wrote “I Don’t Know How She Does It,” an insipid-looking romantic comedy starring Sarah Jessica Parker as a baby-juggling career woman. She also ventured into more serious fare, adapting Benjamin Mee‘s “We Bought a Zoo,” about a man who purchases a zoo to fulfill his dying wife’s last wish for Cameron Crowe.
Seeing that McKenna is taking on an action-based gig and moving out of her comfort zone, we’re a little more upbeat about ‘Zoo’ and what it could have to offer in terms of serious drama. Or this new project could turn out as gag-inducing and eye-rolling as her last ones.