Steve Carell to Lead Film Adaptation of 'Marwencol'

If the title Marwencol sounds familiar to you, that’s because Robert Zemeckis’ next project is a narrative feature adaptation of the 2010 documentary of the same name. That film was a hit on the festival circuit before finding a bigger audience on Netflix Instant (sorry, it’s no longer available), and now Zemeckis will bring that story to an even wider audience with the help of Steve Carell.

According to The Wrap, Carell has been cast as the lead in Zemeckis’ Marwencol, based on the Jeff Malmberg documentary from 2010. The story follows Mark Hogancamp, a man suffering from memory loss following a traumatic assault. To cope with this painful struggle, Hogancamp constructs a 1/6 scale model of World War II-era Belgium in his backyard, populating it with dolls who represent himself, his friends, and even his attackers in an attempt to create new memories to replace the ones that were taken from him.

It’s a beautiful, moving story and one that will afford Carell the opportunity to flex his dramatic muscles again after his Oscar-nominated performance in Foxcatcher. Zemeckis’ Marwencol is based on a screenplay by Caroline Thompson, best known for writing Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands, a film that showcased a particular mixture of sadness, dark beauty and whimsy — a perfect blend of qualities for Marwencol, as well.

Malmberg will produce the feature film adaptation of his documentary, which does not yet have a release date.