Marti Noxon is a film and television writer that you may not know by name, but you’ve most certainly seen her work. She’s staffed on “Mad Men,” “Glee,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and “Angel,” and written the screenplays for “Fright Night,” and “I Am Number Four.”
Movies.com recently spoke with Noxon about a pair of high-profile upcoming projects: “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” which she wrote the screenplay for, and Disney's Elizabeth Banks-starrer “Tink,” that she revealed she is re-writing.
"Tink" has been set up at Disney for about a year now, and even though producers Adam Shankman (“Bedtime Stories”) and McG are attached, we’re hoping that’s just to keep the suits happy, and that the filmmakers will do something interesting with the story that is being planned as a live action, romantic comedy take on the J.M. Barrie character. Banks’ frequent collaborator actress/writer Elizabeth Wright Shapiro did the first draft of the script, and it’s common to have several writers take a look at material before it gets the green light.
Noxon said that she is interested in "Tink" because of the gender politics involved in the story, which will be in the vein of “Enchanted.” "It’s about her coming to the real world in a non-fairy form. That’s about all I can say about it," she said adding, "It’s hard to write or even find a movie for eight- or nine-year-old girls that isn’t about, ya’ know, 'I need a boyfriend!' I mean, Tinkerbell has a job! She’s one of the few characters in that fantasy world that actually has a job. I have a seven-year-old daughter and I want more movies for her where afterward I don’t have to make something up like, “You know, the job of running a kingdom is really hard work, and she and the Prince are going to have to communicate a lot…”
Noxon also addressed the perpetually troubled "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" adaptation, which has gone through three directors already (David O. Russell, Mike White, and Craig Gillespie). Noxon doesn’t think Lionsgate is the problem (“They are committed to doing it and really smart”), but rather the marketplace.
“It’s very hard to sell a comedy-horror concept,” Noxon said, “As much as it’s already pre-sold and popular much in the same way ‘Fright Night’ was, it’s still a little risky. At the same time, you get a success like ‘Zombieland,’ but then something will come along that makes people nervous again…”
That could be standard patter to make everyone look good, and it’s possible Lionsgate is just waiting to see how next summer’s similarly themed historical/creature feature mashup “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” does at the box office, but we believe it coming from Noxon, who seems to be doing interesting work within genre constraints while pushing their boundaries. Give "Fright Night" a whirl when it hits Blu-ray/DVD on December 13th.
