Jay Baruchel tries his hand at screenwriting again with Random Acts of Violence and Exorcism Diaries

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Jay Baruchel (HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, SHE’S OUT OF MY LEAGUE) has already cut his teeth on the word processor with the upcoming hockey comedy GOON (which he co-wrote with PINEAPPLE EXPRESS and SUPERBAD scribe Evan Goldberg), and now THR’s Heat Vision is reporting that the lanky thesp (with co-writer Jesse Chabot) will adapt Kickstart Comics’ RANDOM ACTS OF VIOLENCE on top of being in final negotiations to rewrite Summit Entertainment’s EXORCISM DIARIES. Hollywood’s evidently got some confidence in the guy!

RANDOM ACTS OF VIOLENCE – written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray – “is the blood-soaked story of two comic creators and their ultimate horror character Slasherman creation gone very wrong. The creators start to see success flowing like a river, but when that river turns bloody and people start dying in the midst of a signing tour, it becomes clear that their creation has taken a life of its own.”

Summit’s EXORCISM DIARIES meanwhile – based on the book The Real Story Behind The Exorcist by Mark Opsasnick – “centers on a reporter searching for the truth behind the most famous exorcism in history, but soon discovers that the real-life story is not quite finished. As a result, she finds herself in harm’s way of the same supernatural entity that she is chasing.”

Before any of this, though, Baruchel will be seen onscreen in the aforementioned GOON, opposite Seann William Scott and Liev Schreiber. Heat Vision also mentions that Baruchel has been (weirdly) cast in David Cronenberg’s COSMOPOLIS to boot. Lots of confidence indeed!