New screenwriting team Jeremiah Friedman and Nick Palmer wrote a beloved, Black List-approved screenplay called Family Getaway, and for their troubles were rewarded with the job writing a remake of The Bodyguard. I'm sure they were thrilled by it, being young screenwriters in need of work and all, but I'll admit, we made some fun of the idea over here. But whether it's fate course-correcting or a good idea being unable to stay hidden for long, Family Getaway is now finally getting its due as well; according to The LA Times Bad Teacher director Jake Kasdan is considering making it his next film.
The script is set up at Warner Bros., and even though the studio wouldn't comment to the Times, the paper seems pretty certain he'll make it his next effort now that Bad Teacher is set to come out on June 24. The plot of Family Getaway is a little more high concept than the comedy or even The Bodyguard: "a dysfunctional-family tale about a clan that has to go on the run after its Thanksgiving dinner is crashed by assassins (Little Miss Sunshine meets Jason Bourne, is the pitch line)." Kasdan's first directorial effort, 1998's Zero Effect, was a detective story that gave him a few action credentials, but his films since then have been straight-ahead comedies mixed with drama like Orange County and The TV Set, or the masterful music biopic parody Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.
But Walk Hard is so good, and provided so many challenges to Kasdan in the music and the many decades spanned by the story, that it's given me automatic faith in the guy for at least a while longer, and that definitely extends to Bad Teacher, which I think is being underestimated as a potential breakout summer comedy hit. None of Kasdan's movies have gotten quite the recognition they've deserved, but if he's already getting up his next gig that's a good sign for both Bad Teacher and his career going forward.
