Whether it’s Sacha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell as Holmes and Watson, or Matthew Lillard and Fred Willard in Lizard In A Blizzard, the high-concept comedies just keep on coming. And here’s another one that we think shows great promise – Mythological Veterinarian.
Well, it shows great promise apart from the title, but perhaps we’re just nitpicking.
Anyway, the pitch has been picked up by Columbia Pictures, who were presumably attracted by the central premise, in which a modern-day vet is recruited by a secret society that watches over mythological creatures. So, expect a big-budget, effects-heavy, family-friendly comedy in the vein of Night At The Museum (only hopefully with, y’know, jokes), as our hapless hero encounters (we’re guessing), minotaurs, unicorns and Londoners who admit to voting for Boris Johnson.
The only thing lacking so far is a big star, but with Jimmy Miller on board as producer, one can’t be too far away.
Miller, in case you don’t know, is one of the most powerful men in comedy. Not only does he manage the likes of Will Ferrell, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jim Carrey, Adam McKay and Judd Apatow, but he’s recently branched out into producing. So far he’s been responsible for Talladega Nights, the slice of under-rated genius that is Hot Rod, and the next Ferrell/McKay film, Step Brothers.
He’s also, along with Apatow, producing the Sherlock Holmes comedy, along with about five other high-concept comedies that can be sold, like Mythological Veterinarian, in one easy sentence, including Bronze God (a lifeguard enters a beach volleyball competition) and the untitled Jon Heder/Sumo Wrestler project (take a wild guess).
So it’s likely that Miller will be able to attract some heavy-duty A-list talent (probably Will Ferrell) to this new movie. Watch this space for further developments.
The script, incidentally, will be written by Andrew Kurtzman, who’s also close to finishing the script for another comedy star vehicle – Sober Buddies, for Jim Carrey.