PHOEBE GALLAGHER
Word from Cannes is that a TV series based inspired by the Stephen King yarn “The Lawnmower Man” – previously adapted for the screen in 1992 by way of a Brett Leonard co-written & directed picture- is in development.
Park Entertainment are packaging 26 one-hour episodes of a show that, like the two “Lawnmower Man” features that preceded it, will combine live-action and some rather state-of-the-art special and visual effects.
While the original King short story concerned a man who conjures up an unholy, autonomous lawnmower to cut a clients lawn, before munching down on the grass himself (yes, totally odd), the film version told of a mentally-retarded lawnmower man named Jobe who is coaxed into being a guinea pig for a scientist’s virtual reality experiments, ultimately becoming more intelligent in the process but also evil.
Assumingly, the series will be based more so on the previous feature films than the short-story – being that the whole “man eating grass” thing is both unappealing and, well, has been done – we’ve all seen Showtime’s “Weeds”, right?
David Titcher (“The Librarian” telemovies, “Morgan Stewart’s Coming Home”) has written the pilot episode, the tone of which is said to fall somewhere between action-adventure and science-fiction.
Jeff Fahey played the title character in the first “Lawnmower Man”, whilst Matt Frewer reprised the role in an ill-fated 1996 sequel called “The Lawnmower Man II : Beyond Cyberspace”.
More if and when we hear it on the new “Lawnmower Man” series!
