James Frey is making a sci-fi movie with the Russo brothers that is hopefully not a scam

By Sam Barsanti | June 1, 2015 | 12:04am

Aux Features Film

Apparently, it’s pretty hard to get totally blacklisted in Hollywood these days. At least that seems to be the lesson we can take away from the saga of James Frey. Not only did he write A Million Little Pieces—the supposed memoir that was mostly made up—but he also co-wrote I Am Number Four—the movie adaptation of which was a huge flop. So we can’t be the only ones who are a little surprised to hear that Frey has come up with an idea for a “science fiction space franchise” that is supposedly so amazing that—in the words of Deadline—”book publishers are hot and bothered” over it. Also, Fox 2000 already wants to make it into a movie, and Joe and Anthony Russo want to produce said movie. Is it possible we’re all thinking of a different James Frey?

Actually, no, this is the same James Frey that got Oprah pissed at him when he admitted that he lied about A Million Little Pieces. So how could his idea possibly be this good? Well, Deadline doesn’t have any actual details, but the working title is apparently Space Runners, which is a totally original name that doesn’t resemble any existing thing in science fiction whatsoever. So maybe we were wrong about him? Maybe this project really is on the up and up? It’s not like he’s calling it Sky Walkers. That’s something the old James Frey would do.