Screenwriters Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster have had a good final few months of the decade. The duo are the writers behind both the Disney sequel Maleficent 2, and the Tom Hanks-led Oscar hopeful A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, and they’ve used that cachet to secure their chance at their directorial debut.
Fitzerman-Blue and Harpster will write and direct an adaptation of Dash Shaw‘s graphic novel, Bottomless Belly Button. The story revolves around the dysfunctional adventures of the Loony Family. After 40-plus years of marriage, Maggie and David shock their children with their announcement of a divorce.
This news sends shockwaves through their family, and sparks their adult offspring Dennis, Claire and Peter to come together for a week long Loony family reunion at Maggie and David’s creepy – and possibly haunted – beach house. Bow and Arrow Entertainment (Her Smell, The Little Hours) acquired the novel rights and Matthew Perniciaro and Michael Sherman will produce.
“We’ve loved this book for so long. Bow and Arrow is the perfect home for Bottomless Belly Button, and we are honoured to be their partners”, said Fitzerman-Blue and Harpster in a statement. Perniciaro and Sherman added:
“We’re so excited to be working with Micah and Noah as they take this important next step in their careers and to do so together on a piece that is as deeply human as Dash’s Bottomless Belly Button is something we’re all looking forward to”.
A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood – a biopic of esteemed children’s show host and all-round great guy, Mr. Rogers – has been a critical success, while Maleficent 2 grossed almost $500 million worldwide. Fitzerman-Blue and Harpster also previously worked on Amazon’s Transparent, winning a Peabody award, and have also penned the Disney+ feature Magic Camp.
There’s plenty of graphic novel adaptations in the works right now, but many are either superhero-based, or are very fantastical. While Bottomless Belly Button has a side of that too with the possibly haunted beach house, it will be interesting to see an adaptation of a story that, at it’s core, is a grounded drama about family. Hopefully Fitzerman-Blue and Harpster can do the source material justice.
#Peace.Love.BottomlessBellyButton
