Even though the idea of the megalomaniacal evil genius bent on world domination has been done time and time again, apparently the concept is not so beaten to death that people aren’t fighting over the ability to tell that story again. Warner Brothers has won the battle to tell that familiar tale, albeit with a pretty awesome title: I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President.
Along the lines of Dexter’s Lab, the story focuses on a chubby 13-year old boy who puts on the façade of being a stupid seventh grader while he really is an incredibly rich evil genius. Hidden beneath his family’s suburban home is his secret compound where the kid plots out his plans for world domination, but, because he’s not 18 yet, he can’t lay claim to his empire. So what is an evil genius to do in the meantime? Run for class president to prove his worth to his do-gooder father.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the story comes from Daily Show writer Josh Lieb, with Penguin Books publishing the book that Warner Brothers has acquired the film options for. McG will produce the picture under his Wonderland Sound and Vision banner. Lieb will adapt his own book for the movie.
Despite the fact that this has been done before, this sounds really promising as a movie. It’s the kind of story that can’t go over the top enough, but will really require the right kid to pull off the part. Here’s hoping they don’t head for Josh Flitter (License to Wed who seems to be Hollywood’s go-to kid right now (and is hopefully too busy playing Ace Ventura Jr. to be considered). This seems like the perfect project to cast an unknown in and help build them up as “that kid who played the evil genius.”
