Grady Hendrix is said to be the second-best-selling horror writer in the world, behind Stephen King. His works include Satan Loves You, Horrorstör, My Best Friend’s Exorcism, Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of ‘70s and ‘80s Horror Fiction, We Sold Our Souls, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, The Final Girl Support Group, These Fists Break Bricks: How Kung Fu Movies Swept America and Changed the World, How to Sell a Haunted House, and Witchcraft for Wayward Girls. One of his earliest publications was the novella Occupy Space, which has since been renamed BadAsstronauts – and now, Deadline reports that BadAsstronauts is getting the film adaptation treatment!
What Is BadAsstronauts?
The novella is a blue-collar space odyssey about a washed-up astrophysicist who decides, against all logic and common sense, to build a homemade rocket and launch it into orbit to rescue his cousin who’s stranded in space. It’s a story of underdogs rediscovering purpose, family, and pride as a wildly ill-advised backyard mission becomes a scrappy movement that eventually captures the imagination of the entire nation.
Todd Garner and Adam Goldworm will be producing the film adaptation, which is set up at Paramount Pictures. Hendrix will serve as an executive producer.
Other Hendrix Projects
A while back, author Hendrix contributed the 29 page short story Ankle Snatcher to the Amazon Original Stories Creature Feature collection, which also featured stories by Joe Hill, Josh Malerman, Paul Tremblay, Jason Mott, and Chandler Baker. The story quickly secured a film adaptation deal with Sony. When Amazon put together an original stories collection called The Shivers, Hendrix contributed the 35 page story The Blanks, which can be read in The Shivers Collection alongside stories by the likes of Stephen Graham Jones, Catriona Ward, Owen King, and, again, Joe Hill. The Blanks also secured a film adaptation deal, this one with 21 Laps, Aperture Entertainment, and the Netflix streaming service.
My Best Friend’s Exorcism was turned into a feature film that was released through Prime Video, and Horrorstör adaptations have been in the works for years. At first it was intended to be a TV series, now producers are aiming to turn it into a movie. A film adaptation of How to Sell a Haunted House is set up at Legendary Entertainment, and TV series adaptations of both The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires and The Final Girl Support Group were in the works, but appear to have stalled out.
Hendrix also co-wrote the films Mohawk and Satanic Panic, as well as the documentary Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks. To date, his books have sold more than 2.4 million copies worldwide.
Are you a Grady Hendrix fan, and are you glad to hear there’s going to be a BadAsstronauts movie? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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