Over the summer it was announced that FX passed on Charlie Kaufman’s comedy pilot starring Michael Cera and John Hawkes, but now Kaufman has a new project in the works with a big comedy star. Deadline reports that Kaufman has signed on to rewrite the film adaptation for IQ 83 based on Arthur Herzog’s 1978 science fiction novel about a virus outbreak that lowers humanity’s IQs, and Steve Carell is attached to star. Here’s a description of the book via Coming Soon:
You are Dr. James Healey and last week you were a genius. That was before the DNA experiments. Before the accident you said could never happen… Since then you have felt your mind decaying a little more each day. You have watched your wife slip into imbecility. You have seen the crowds growing murderous with animal terror, the President of the United States babbling and drooling on TV… Only one thing separates you from them. You, at least, know what is happening as you search for the cure for the horror you have unleashed upon the world—as each day the dimming of your mind lowers your chance of finding it!
The IQ 83 adaptation has been in the works for nearly 20 years, and though the book was written as “serious science fiction,†the vision for the film is reportedly “to do a scathing satire, on the order of Doctor Strangelove.†Considering that Carell has been delving into dramatic roles lately with Foxcatcher, a satirical sci-fi adaptation written by Charlie Kaufman sounds like a very interesting match.