Steve Carell has been attached for awhile to headline an adaptation of Arthur Herzog’s 1978 science fiction novel, IQ 83. Right now the big screen take on the high concept tale is officially getting a rewrite from none other than Charlie Kaufman, the screenwriter behind films like Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Synecdoche, New York. Deadline has the news, reporting that Kaufman will be doing a page one rewrite.
The book, which follows a catastrophic airborne virus that dumbs down the population, is officially described as follows:
You are Dr. James Healey and last week you were a genius. That was before the DNA experiments. Before the accident you said could never happen… Since then you have felt your mind decaying a little more each day. You have watched your wife slip into imbecility. You have seen the crowds growing murderous with animal terror, the President of the United States babbling and drooling on TV… Only one thing separates you from them. You, at least, know what is happening as you search for the cure for the horror you have unleashed upon the world—as each day the dimming of your mind lowers your chance of finding it!
