From Brian K Vaughan and Pia Guerra, Y: The Last man is a comic book series published by Vertigo that began in 2002 set in a dystopian future following an extinction event that resulted in the death of every male mammal on the planet barring one man and his pet monkey. The series ran for sixty issues and is now collected in trade paperbacks as well as oversized hardcover editions. The series won the 2008 eisner award for best continuing series. In summary, Y: The Last Man is highly recommended reading and a nice change from the many superhero books on the market. But where is this relevant in film news? A film adaptation of the series has been rumoured to be in the making for several years at this point, it once had Shia LaBeouf attached to star as the central character Yorick Brown. While this is a long way from a formal announcement the latest murmurings are that New Line Cinema is very pleased with a draft script submitted by Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia whom both previously worked on the now cancelled TV series ‘Jericho’ and ‘Human Target’.
In fact the feeling towards the latest script seems so positive that meetings with potential directors have already begun. Previously attached directors have included DJ Caruso (Disturbia), however given how long this project has been gestating whether any of the previous talents attached would be returning is unknown.
TV fans might feel less enthusiastic about this news, Y: The Last Man had reportedly also been considered for a TV series with one episode per issue of the book making for approximately 3 – 5 seasons depending on the episodic format. Arguably a much better medium from a storytelling perspective for a project such as this, though feature film being what it is could deliver a new franchise to the studio.
For now however we wait and see if this new enthusiasm manifests in a green lit project, in the meantime anyone with an interest should check out the ‘Y: The Last Man’ fan film currently on You Tube. My personal choice for the casting of Yorick Brown? Zachary Levi.
