ROTTEN TOMATOES: Johnny Depp to Grab a Fistful of Quarters?

Johnny Depp to Grab a Fistful of Quarters?

Next: The King of Kong Broadway musical.

by Jeff Giles | August 20, 2007

Even for the age of unlikely remakes and strange adaptations, this one is sort of a doozy, but see if you can follow along: The recently released documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters -- which looks at the bewilderingly intense real-life rivalry between the two men battling over the scoring record for Donkey Kong -- has already been established as one of the summer's most pleasant critical surprises, shooting up to 97 percent on the Tomatometer. And now the filmmakers want to follow it up with...a King of Kong dramatization?

According to MTV Movies, it's true -- the article doesn't name a studio, but apparently an outline for the project has been approved, and a first draft for the script is imminent. And when it comes to casting the film's two main roles (longtime Donkey champ Billy Mitchell and challenger Steve Wiebe), director Seth Gordon and producer Ed Cunningham hope to bring out the big guns. From the article:

"My first idea for Billy was Johnny Depp," Gordon said of the famously mullet-ed arcade legend. "Ed Norton I thought would be good. It's really not about the hair, it's about the eyes. It's got to be a real actor." For Wiebe, Cunningham said he's "partial to Greg Kinnear." Gordon suggested Nathan Fillion from the movie "Waitress."

But wait, there's more! Gordon and Cunningham would also like to arrange a pay-per-view showdown between Wiebe and the famously reclusive Mitchell. Ridiculous? Sure, but it'd probably be more entertaining than some of those 30-second Tyson fights we ponied up for in the '80s, right?

Source: MTV Movies

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(1-8 of 8 posts) | Reply

Drunken Mastermind writes:
on Aug 20 2007 07:35 AM

Depp and Norton like to do weird movies,but I think they need someone less famous for this. Kinnear and Fillon would be good,but it won't happen,it doesn't matter anyway.

(Reply to this)

Drunken Mastermind writes:
on Aug 20 2007 07:56 AM

Depp and Norton like to do weird movies,but I think they need someone less famous for this. Kinnear and Fillon would be good,but it won't happen,it doesn't matter anyway.

(Reply to this)

hollywoodarsonist writes:
on Aug 20 2007 08:53 AM

just because geeks enjoy geeky documentaries about other geeks and their geekieness does not mean we want to watch a scripted/over-blown/over-budget/hollywoodization of the same film.

let it go. just let it go. do not denigrate the merits of this film by over-shadowing it with a farce.

(Reply to this)

dracus writes:
on Aug 20 2007 09:42 AM

Sounds about as plausible as last week's ridiculous rumour about the Jurassic Park IV plot that got everyone's panties in a knot. Who makes up this crap?

(Reply to this)

Pilgermann writes:
on Aug 20 2007 10:46 AM

I'd prefer that KING OF KONG get a wider release.

(Reply to this)

jacog writes:
on Aug 21 2007 02:43 AM

I like quirky documentaries. I saw Word Play last week and it as surprisingly fun for a film about crossword puzzles. I say no to making dramatised versions. At least not this close to the release of the documentary.

I saw a doccie once about the Jamaican bobsled team, and indeed they eventually made a film starring John Candy, but at least they waited a few years.

(Reply to this)

resident writes:
on Aug 21 2007 03:44 AM

I want Johnny Depp to play something like the lead in a bio on Freddie Mercury,
but soon before time slips away.

(Reply to this)

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