Oscar winning director Robert Zemeckis has been attached to a Universal project based on the 2010 documentary Marwencol.
The documentary is based on Mark Hogancamp, who was beaten outside a bar and suffered severe head trauma. In order to help him regain his hand-eye coordination and psychologically recover from the beating, he builds the World War II era town “Marwencol” in his backyard, using action figures. According to Variety, Universal snapped up both Hogancamp’s life rights and the rights to the documentary.
Marwencol was released to critical acclaim and earned the top documentary awards from the Boston Society of Film Critics and SXSW. It is available on home video. Director Jeff Malmberg will be an executive producer on Universal's film.
Caroline Thompson has written the script, notes THR. Her credits include the novel The Secret Garden and she co-wrote the screenplay to Edward Scissorhands.
Zemeckis is still in talks with Lionsgate for Chaos Walking, but Marwencol may happen first if Universal can find an A-list star to play Hogancamp. Variety’s sources say that the Back to the Future director is hoping to get Leonardo DiCaprio, but he has other commitments and hasn’t decided what his next movie will be.
Zemeckis, who won his Oscar for Forrest Gump, recently returned to live action filmmaking with 2012’s Flight, which was also based on a true story.
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