New Line Cinema is moving development of the post-apocalyptic adventure to the front burner.
Writers Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia, veterans of television genre writing, have been working on a script for an adaptation of the graphic novel Y: The Last Man.
They’ve now turned in their first draft, and New Line is rushing the development to the head of the queue, which seems to indicate they like the script.
Y is the story of the only man to survive a world-wide plaque which specifically targeted male mammals. At the opening of the tale, the only other male mammal to be found having survived is a small monkey who then travels with the protagonist as he struggles to survive as the only man in a world now filled with women.
I’m sure you can guess the type of humorous and sexual exploits this character gets up to, but it’s not all the predictable stuff. It’s a surprisingly clever and through provoking story, which explores issues of discrimination and gender roles. The major villain is the leader of a tribe of warrior women who want to finish the job the plague began.
The film has been at the writing stage for some time. Federman and Scaia, who have also worked together on scripts for shows like Warehouse 13 and have only been working on it since this spring, but the studio has had the project in hand for over two years.
In those early days of pre-development, they had a director attached, D.J. Caruso, but he’s been off the project for quite some time, and a new director will likely need to be found. I would expect that announcement within the month, and casting to begin shortly thereafter.
Y: The Last Man, which is being produced by David S. Goyer, Chris Bender, and J.C. Spink, has no announced production or release dates.
