A buddy movie about a man and a corpse that farts became the unlikely talk of last year’s Sundance Film Festival, and with backing from A24, achieved nearly instant cult status. It immediately put the filmmakers Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan (aka The Daniels) on the map, and they’re gearing up their next project with a major boost behind them.
Anthony and Joe Russo will be producing the new film by The Daniels, which is currently untitled, and about which no plot details are being released. All that can be said is that it’s a sci-fi film, and the Daniels will be writing and directing it, which means it’s going to be something powered by their own distinct, delightfully weird voice. No word yet on when it will start filming.
Meanwhile, Lenny Abrahamson has lined up a few projects following the acclaimed “Room” — the ghost story “The Little Stranger,” the bisexual boxing drama “A Man’s World,” and the WWI movie “The Grand Escape” — but he’s only managed to get behind the camera for the Hulu series “Chance.” But now’s got another movie brewing.
Abrahamson has signed up to direct “Burning Rainbow Farm.” The adaptation of Dean Kuipers book will be scripted by Cory Finley, and tell the true story the pot-friendly Rainbow Farm in Michigan, which soon became the deadly target of the authorities looking to shut it down. Here’s the book synopsis:
On a mission to build a peaceful, pot-friendly Shangri-La, Tom Crosslin and his lover Rollie Rohm founded Rainbow Farm, a well-appointed campground and concert venue tucked away in rural Southwest Michigan. The farm quickly became the center of marijuana and environmental activism in Michigan, drawing thousands of blue-collar libertarians and hippie liberals, evangelicals and militiamen to its annual hemp festivals. People came from all over the country to support Tom and Rollie’s libertarian brand of patriotism: They loved America but didn’t like the War on Drugs.
As Rainbow Farm launched a popular statewide ballot initiative to change marijuana laws, local authorities, who had scarcely tolerated Rainbow Farm in the past, began an all-out campaign to shut the place down. Finally, in May 2001, Tom and Rollie were arrested for growing marijuana. Rollie’s 11-year-old son, who grew up on Rainbow Farm, was placed in foster care – Tom would never see him again. Faced with mandatory jail terms and the loss of the farm, Tom and Rollie never showed up for their August court date. Instead, the state’s two best-known pot advocates burned Rainbow Farm to the ground in protest. County officials called the FBI, and within five days Tom and Rollie were dead. Obscured by the attacks of September 11, their stories will be told here for the first time.
We’ll see if this becomes Abrahamson’s next movie (it sounds like great material), but hopefully at least one of his projects gets rolling soon. [Deadline]