Chronicle scribe Max Landis and Homeland creator Howard Gordon have sold Vigilant, a vigilante drama pitch to Fox.
The Hollywood Reporter writes that the duo have delivered a script to the network, based on a concept and script from Landis. Gordon will executive produce the project through Teakwood Lane.
THR reports, “The project is described as a ‘superhero’ origin story told through the unlikely point of view of a smart 20-year-old woman who happens to be a social outcast. After an honorable veteran detective is brutally coerced into working for the corrupt head of Internal Affairs, the detective’s daughter plans her revenge by creating a fictional vigilante persona to take on the criminal elements within the police department and the city.”
Landis, however, took the trades to task for describing the show as a “superhero” story in a series of tweets.
No spoilers, but calling #vigilant a “super hero show” is a lot like calling Taxi Driver a pre-cursor to Spider-Man 3.
— Max Landis (@Uptomyknees) September 18, 2012
Landis continued.
I’m going to restate this because I don’t know who wrote the announcement, but: Vigilant is not a “superhero” show in ANY traditional sense.
— Max Landis (@Uptomyknees) September 18, 2012
Comparing it to “The Cape” or “Powers” or “Arrow” or “Smallville” is…just not accurate.No disrespect to those shows…
— Max Landis (@Uptomyknees) September 18, 2012
Vigilant comes at the whole equation of what a “vigilante” in a very different way.It has more in common with The Wire than Smallville.
— Max Landis (@Uptomyknees) September 18, 2012
Landis went on to discuss the characterization of Chronicle as a superhero movie.
On a similar note, it weirded me out when people called Chronicle a “superhero movie.”Chronicle is like…Carrie, basically.No heroes.
— Max Landis (@Uptomyknees) September 18, 2012
It’s a sign of the times; these days super-powers and vigilantes are just automatically lumped in with “superheroes.” #oversaturation
— Max Landis (@Uptomyknees) September 18, 2012
This ends my twitter rant for the night.God I’m so excited about C2 and Vigilant and stuff, I can’t even tell you guys.
— Max Landis (@Uptomyknees) September 18, 2012
From the sound of it we can expect something quite different from Landis, who, to his credit, definitely took a refreshing approach to the superpower movie with Chronicle. With Gordon on board, coming off an Emmy win with Homeland, Vigilant sounds like a show to keep our eyes on. It’s just a shame it won’t be airing on HBO or Showtime…