Robert Zemeckis set to direct adaptation of documentary Marwencol

October 24th 2013, 10:01pm

I’m sort of mad at myself that this is my first time hearing about MARWENCOL. I can tell you that I plan to immediately remedy this.

The 2010 documentary tells the story of Mark Hogancamp, and how he coped with memory loss after being severely beaten by a group of teenagers.

Robert Zemeckis has signed on to direct the script from Caroline Thompson (EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS). The film will be a blend of reality and fantasy. There’s no one in place for the lead, but Zemeckis is trying to get Leonardo DiCaprio to board. Oh please do.

Here’s Hogancamp’s story:

The beating Hogancamp suffered at the hands of five teenagers was so severe that it left him in a coma that lasted nine days. When he emerged, he had no memory of his life, his friends or his family. As a form of therapy, he began building a one-sixth scale model of a World War II-era Belgian village in his backyard, replete with figures made in the image of him, his friends, and, shockingly to some, his attackers. While the process mends his mind to a certain extent, it also lets him escape into a fantasy world in which he creates various scenarios with the figurines. The documentary, which ended up on many best-of lists, also showed how fragile Hogancamp’s world was when the New York art scene became interested in his work and wanted to display it to the public.

The trailer for the original documentary makes me fall in love with this world that Hogancamp created: