According to this little Variety snippet, DreamWorks Animation is producing an adaptation of A. Lee Martinez’s novel Gil’s All Fright Diner
Something Evil (that’s with a capital E) is stalking Gil’s All Night Diner in Martinez’s terrific debut, a comic horror-fantasy novel. Heading the delightfully eccentric cast are buddies Earl (aka the Earl of Vampires) and Duke (aka the Duke of Werewolves), who are looking for a place to eat as they drive through Rockwood, a small desert community besieged by cosmically weird stuff. Soon after stopping at Gil’s Diner, the pair help Loretta, the formidable owner-operator, fend off a zombie attack. Determined to do the right thing, the two supernatural misfits take on further challenges, such as trying to prevent Tammy (aka Mistress Lilith, Queen of the Night) and her loyal but dumb boyfriend, Chad, from ending the world.
The screenplay is being adapted by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris (who also wrote Kung Fu Panda for DreamWorks) and the film will be directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (it’s been 11 years– I think we can forgive him for Wild Wild West now). With the right character design and an adherence to what sounds like a dark Douglas Adams style of humour, this could be pretty good. Have any of you read the book? What’d you think?