Edgar Wright & Jake Kasdan For Steampunk Spin On Oliver Twist?

Jake Kasdan now attached to direct Edgar Wright's fast-paced script.

Oliver Twist With my background in blogging taking me pretty close to the world of comic books, I've known about Tony Lee and his witty little novel Dodge & Twist for some time. Lee's big idea was to cook up a sequel to Oliver Twist that saw the Oliver and The Artful Dodger growing up apart and then reuniting for some action-adventure fun. This basic notion is exactly the same for the film Dodge & Twist. Is this just a coincidence? Lee says not. He posted to his website about how he met Ahmet Zappa, one of the movie's producers, back in 2007. But I can say, definitively, that the story similarities are actually pretty slim. I can say this because I've read both. They start from the same place - which comes from Dickens in any case, so neither can lay claim to it - and then go off in very different directions. All they have in common is that simple logline: Oliver Twist and the Artful Dodger reunite for a new caper. The new script, which is fast-paced, punky stuff with lots of gags and good, fun moments, was written by none other than Edgar Wright. This news was reported a week or so back by Film Divider who have now updated their story with an extra nugget: Jake Kasdan has been attached to direct. Kasdan hasn't made a big, FX-heavy adventure film, and some of his recent work, like the Cameron Diaz-Jason Segal diptych Bad Teacher and Sex Tape, don't seem to come anywhere near the standards of, say, The Zero Effect or Walk Hard. Still, Kasdan's no dummy, and his sensibilities are close enough to Edgar Wright's that it all makes sense. I hope this comes together. It might not amount to much more than a good Friday night at the movies but, hey. What else do you want to do after work on Friday?
Movie News Editor
Movie News Editor

Brendon Connelly has been a film writer since the early 90s, with time on the staff of Orbit Magazine, Slashfilm, Bleeding Cool, Den of Geek and many more. He's a long time teacher of film studies and practical filmmaking classes, and has directed music videos, commercials, short films and more. His favourite film is Terry Gilliam's Brazil, his favourite food is pancakes or crepes, and he tries to live his life by the teachings of Kermit the Frog.