The poster for Magnolia Pictures’ ‘Freakonomics’ just landed in my inbox. I have to say, it makes me a little hungry. That’s a pretty juicy orangapple. Or maybe it’s an applerange.
The documentary is based on the book by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, ‘Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything’; their goal was to take the boring world of economics and twist it into something strange, mundane, and controversial.
It’s a pretty broad subject, so rather than just one filmmaker tackling it, six notable documentarians came together for the project: Morgan Spurlock (‘Super Size Me’ – you’ll never look at McDonald’s the same away again); Alex Gibney (‘Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room’); Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing (‘Jesus Camp’), and Eugene Jarecki (‘Why We Fight’), with connecting pieces by Seth Gordon (‘The King of Kong’ – OMG, love this movie).
‘Freakonomics’ features four segments outlining the dirty world that surrounds Sumo wrestling (Gibney), the repercussions of baby names (Spurlock), what happens when underachievers are given cash to excel academically (Grady and Ewing), and why crime rates dropped in the early ’90s (Jarecki).
I’d pay money to see a film from any one of these filmmakers, but all of them together? Excellent. ‘Freakonomics’ hits Video on Demand on Sept. 3, and arrives in theaters on Oct. 1.
Check out the ‘Freakonomics’ blog (at the New York Times – hmmm, that doesn’t bode well), and also follow them on Twitter and Facebook. The trailer hasn’t been released yet, but I can’t wait to check it out.
Image: Magnolia Pictures
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I happen to be reading Super Freakonomics. The part on global warming takes a different view that you sometimes hear.
Stewart – Thanks for the note. I’ll have to check out the books. Do you think the concept will translate well into a movie?
I bet you wish george bush was still president now