Movie Version of ‘Eat, Brains, Love’ Zombie Novel in Works at Van Toffler’s Gunpowder & Sky
by TODD SPANGLER / NY Digital Editor
Startup studio pacts with Tony DiSanto’s DIGA, James Frey’s Full Fathom Five on project
Gunpowder & Sky, the youth-focused studio launched by ex-Viacom exec Van Toffler in January, has signed an exclusive deal for a film adaptation of “Eat, Brains, Love,” a comedic zombie road-trip novel by Jeff Hart.
G&S, backed by AT&T and Chernin Group’s Otter Media, is working on the project with DIGA, an independent production studio founded by former MTV executive Tony DiSanto, and author James Frey’s Full Fathom Five media and production firm.
The project reunites Toffler and DiSanto, whose productions at MTV included “Jersey Shore,” “Scream,” “Teen Wolf” and “My Super Psycho Sweet 16.” The companies said they are in talks with potential screenwriters for “Eat, Brains, Love.”
“Eat, Brains, Love” — the title is a play on Elizabeth Gilbert’s best-selling novel “Eat, Pray, Love” — is the story of a pair of high-school sweethearts who contract a mysterious zombie virus and devour the brains of half their senior class. They set off on a cross-country journey to discover a cure, while being pursued by a teen psychic sent by the government’s top-secret Necrotic Control Division to track them down.
WME negotiated the deal on behalf of Full Fathom Five. DiSanto and Full Fathom Five’s Todd Cohen brought the project to G&S.