Chalk up one more project on Diablo Cody's already crowded slate. Alongside the TV series The United States of Tara and her Sweet Valley High update, the wunderkind screenwriter of Juno and Jennifer's Body will be overseeing Breathers: A Zombie's Lament.
Breathers is a novel by SG Browne, published early last year to a reasonably warm reception. A rom-zom-com, it involves reanimated car-crash victim Andy, as he attempts to negotiate his new un-life by attending support groups and embarking on a relationship with lipstick-obsessed suicide victim Rita. There's also a stoner called Ray whose arm was stolen by students. No law against picking on the undead.
The script has been written by Geoff LaTulippe, who also penned Going the Distance (currently in production starring Justin Long, Drew Barrymore and Christina Applegate). Cody says she's "thrilled" with the screenplay, and hopes to go into production soon. "Zombies are so hot now," she says, " but I like to think it’s about the personal side of being a zombie and being ostracized.”
We're in danger of zombie overkill here, but we don't recall ever having seen a romance from an undead perspective before. Maybe there's life in the old corpse yet?