On February 19, 1979, I was in a plane crash with my father, his girlfriend Sandra, and the pilot of our chartered Cessna. Sandra was 30 years old. My dad was 43. I was 11. Just after sunrise, we slammed into a rugged 8,600-foot mountain engulfed in a blizzard. By the end of our nine-hour ordeal, I was the only survivor.
And so reads the book jacket for Norman Ollstead's memoir "Crazy For The Storm," and frankly, even in today's climate of blockbusters, sequels and spinoffs, if someone walked into a pitch meeting with that alone, they'd walk out with a deal. And it has certainly nabbed the attention of Sean Penn.
He's looking to take on a big screen adaptation of the memoir that will see him direct his first film since 2007's "Into The Wild," in what is another wilderness tale. Will Fetters ("The Lucky One," "Remember Me") has penned the script about the strange but true story, that follows a child who was pushed into extreme sports at the age of three, who at the age of 11 has to descend the San Gabriel Mountains alone after a plane crash. Sounds pretty damn exciting to us, but what about "The Comedian"?
Well, while Variety notes this one is set up and seems to be moving at Warner Bros, THR says it remains in the "orbit" of projects he's considering next. If you recall, that film has Kristin Wiig and Robert De Niro attached, in the story of a bitterly funny insult comic named Jackie Burke (De Niro), who is sentenced to community service after hitting a heckler in the head with a microphone. During his stint paying his dues to society, he meets Harmony (Wiig), a redhead who turns his world upside down. Both movies sound very promising, and we hope one of these goes soon, but if we had to choose? We really want to see "The Comedian."
