Will Ferrell To Star in Land of the Lost



The Funny Mafia, as The Old Gray Lady's Sharon Waxman hinted after, has struck again. "Land of the Lost" is one of The Corsair's all time favorite 70s tv shows, and, according to the Hollywood Reporter:

"Will Ferrell is attached to star in the comedy feature 'Land of the Lost,' based on the classic television series of the same name. Universal acquired the feature rights from Sid and Marty Krofft, executive producers of the original television series, who will produce the feature for the studio."

The Corsair is not, like 100 percent sure on this "comedy" thing. The charm of the old series was the tragic aspect of a family coming together against a hostile alien landscape with the danger of death-by-claymation around every corner (Were we ever so young?). But The Corsair is so there:

"Jimmy Miller and Julie Wixson-Darmody also will produce via the Mosaic Media Group banner. Adam McKay is attached to direct, with Chris Henchy and Dennis McNicholas signing on to adapt the screenplay."



Above: Marshall, Will, Holly and "The Paucuny Tribe."

Chris Henchy is "Mr. Brooke Shields" to us mortals. This keeps getting more retro by the minute:

"Universal president of production Donna Langley will oversee the project for the studio. The original 'Land of the Lost' series revolved around forest ranger Rick Marshall and his children, Will and Holly, who are caught in a time vortex while exploring the Colorado River on a raft and transported to a mysterious world."

We remember it quite differently. The three were rafting the Colorado River, met "the greatest earthquake ever known," and "high on the rapids, it struck their tiny raft. And plunged them down a thousand feet below," to a land that time forgot:

"The feature film will be an update of the series, which ran from 1973-1977 on NBC and is due out on DVD this month."

Now, if they could get a remake of Bigfoot and Wild Boy. (Kidding) More here.

Jump the Shark commentary:

"Land of the Lost jumped the shark with the appearance of Malak, an alleged Cro-Magnon caveman, in the second 3rd season episode 'Survival Kit.' This prehistoric character spoke English! All previous characters were either acknowledged English-speaking Americans or communicated telepathically so the Marshall family could understand. Otherwise, they spoke another language (Pakuni) or just hissed (Sleestak). The English-speaking Cro-Magnon signaled that the producers were no longer concerned with the relative realism of the classic first two seasons."

Okay, The Corsair would like to distinguish himself from the immediately previous writer on JTS. We liked the show, we did, but, we weren't that into it ... And, finally, from JTS:

"That very last season with Uncle Jack. A ton of stuff went wrong when the Father left the show. Chaka (who is Mark McGrath of "Sugar Ray") suddenly started talking normal English after before just knowing a few words. And the worst of all, Will started SINGING! They turn a perfectly good children's show into a true Kroft turkey after that!"

We can neither confirm nor deny that "Extra" anchor and former rock star Mark McGrath looks like a prehistoric claymation reptile.