Will Forte to play National Lampoon co-founder in Netflix movie
David Farnor | On 16, Mar 2016
Will Forte will play the co-founder of National Lampoon in a new Netflix original movie.
Called A Futile and Stupid Gesture, the movie will tell the tragic story of Doug Kenney, who died at the age of 33. Kenney was the editor of the Harvard Lampoon when he met his fellow co-founders, Henry Beard and Robert Hoffman, whose National Lampoon evolved from a humourous magazine into a radio show and, eventually, a movie franchise that introduced the world to such comedy talents as Jim Belushi and John Hughes.
The film is based on a 2006 book by Josh Karp and is written by Michael Colton and John Aboud. Peter Principato and Jonathan Stern are producing, with Ed Helms on board as exec producer, alongside Colton and Aboud. (They are joined by Ben Ormand, Ted Hamm and Sean McKittrick.)
Forte joins the project at a time when he is enjoying growing acclaim for his screen work: after Nebraska, in which he co-starred, went on to earn six Oscar nominations, his co-created TV series The Last Man on Earth has won several Emmy nominations for both his writing and acting.
The movie will be directed by David Wain, the co-creator of Wet Hot American Summer. Wain, of course, is no stranger to the streaming giant: his cult comedy movie went on to inspire a limited series reboot on Netflix last year.