Inherit the Wind 2: Design Harder

Paramount Pictures has green-lighted a film about the recent Dover trial in which a judge ruled against the teaching of Intelligent Design.

According to Variety, the studio just hired Ronald Harwood to write a screenplay based on last year's court decision ruling that a Pennsylvania school board didn't have the right to force teachers to teach intelligent design. (Interestingly, the film's producer was thinking "movie" from the very start, so much so that she actually sent someone to watch and take notes on the trial - does that show clever foresight or a disturbing tendency to turn every major news story into tomorrow's blockbuster? Both?) In Harwood's eyes, his benchmark is Inherit the Wind, the play and film that told the story of the famous Scopes trial, which allowed evolution into (Tennessee) classrooms in the first place. "Our aspiration is to make a film that powerful...We have a highly emotional case that divided a town right down the middle, and a judge whose summary was spectacular."

While I do find it a bit odd that the studio sent someone to the trial to take notes, it gives me hope that perhaps there will be less films coming out of Hollywood that are mere remakes of crappy television shows. If a Bosom Buddies flick ever gets made, there'll be hell to pay...