Did you like Spike Lee’s The 25th Hour, about a guy re-evaluating his life before he starts a prison sentence? Well, Castle Rock are hoping you did – because they’ve just bought a pitch for a movie that sounds quite like it… only with a longer timeframe.
Seventy-Two Days, by new writer J. Mills Goodloe, is about a Wall Street trader who’s convicted of insider trading and sentenced to a minimum-security prison in… yep, 72 days.
With his life in ruins and freedom about to be forsaken (even though it’s only a minimum security jail, and you can pretty much walk out of those when you want; no need to tunnel under the wall, just tell the guard you’re going for a pee and then leg it), he then falls in love for the first time! Oh no!
Yes, readers, after reading that summary, we’re not sure why Castle Rock bought it either. But Goodloe has already sold a spec script to Castle Rock this year – Find.Love.Frost. – and we’re sure his pitch was a lot better than our recounting of it. It probably included stuff like, y’know, character development and a plot.
And lest we forget, Castle Rock is the company that backed talent such as Frank Darabont, Christopher Guest and of course their very own Rob Reiner in the past, so they’ve got a keen eye. Let’s hope that 25th Hour 2 – sorry, Seventy-Two Days – is a worthy addition to their glittering roster.