With the 49th Chicago International Film Festival set to begin this Thursday with a tribute to famed Chicago film critic Roger Ebert, it’s safe to say that his death this past April is still felt across the city. What better way could there possibly be to commemorate the life of a man whose entire legacy was established through film criticism than by making a film detailing one of the most pivotal periods of his life?
Sobini Films, Permut Presentations, and Chautaqua Entertainment have acquired the screenplay for Russ & Roger Go Beyond, a comedy film written by Christopher Cluess (SNL, The Simpsons). The film will center around the friendship made between Ebert and Russ Meyer, director of Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, as they collaborated to make the 1970 film, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls in which Ebert wrote the screenplay. No cast or crew outside of Cluess have been announced for the film.