The name Charles Fort may not be familiar to many, so perhaps H.P. Lovecraft will ring a few more bells. Some of Lovecraft’s works were influenced by the scientific work of American writer and paranormal researcher Charles Fort in the early 20th century. Now, in an adaptation of the Dark Horse comic Fort: Prophet of the Unexplained, Robert Zemeckis will attempt to bring this relatively unknown character to the screen. Converting the comic will be Evan Spiliotopoulos, who has most recently worked on the script for Universal’s Snow White and the Huntsman. If that hasn’t sold you yet, Charles Fort is being billed as a “period Ghostbusters.”
For more on Charles Fort, hit the jump.
Charles Fort, the man, was interested in “anomalous and unexplained phenomena.” He applied his scientific method to investigate events ranging from teleportation to poltergeists, levitation and UFOs. His novels, such as The Outcast Manufacturers (1909) and The Book of the Damned (1919) were well reviewed then and are still available today.
Fort’s real-life work inspired the more adventurous character in the 2002 Dark Horse comic mini-series off of which Charles Fort, the movie, is based. From the four-issue Dark Horse series by authors Peter Lenkov and Frazer Irving:
“Lo! A mighty prophet of the unexplained has come forward to search out the truth and light the way for mankind! It’s the end of the 19th century and the city of New York has been plagued by fish falling from the sky, strange lights in the night, bizarre collections of microbial goo, and vanishing citizens! It’s up to one man to expose the truth behind these events… Charles Fort! A mild mannered librarian by day, Fort seeks out the truth and exposes the bizarre to the light of day! [Amazon]
According to Heat Vision, Dark Horse’s Mike Richardson along with Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey from ImageMovers will produce with Zemeckis. Dark Horse Entertainment and Universal have another adaptation coming to theaters in summer of 2013 in the form of R.I.P.D., which was also written by Lenkov.
