Newbie Director Gets Studio Gift: To Write and Direct Boring-Sounding Christmas Film From Someone Else’s Idea
Merry early Christmas to Jamie Linden. The budding writer-director has just been given what could be a sizable gift from Paramount and Walden Media, as the 10 Years filmmaker has been set to write and direct their The Flight Before Christmas project. Variety reports that the film, which sounds as if it was conceived almost totally to serve its punny title and in complete disregard for whether or not this plot sounds funny or fresh, actually comes from an idea from Walden executive Evan Turner and revolves around “a family trying to survive the plane ride from hell on Christmas Eve.” I have broken out in hives already.
Linden’s resume may also make you dear readers break out in hives. The filmmaker has previously pulled double duty with screenwriting and producing credits on We Are Marshall (hives because you’re crying too much and it’s irritating your delicate skin) and Dear John (hives because it’s a Nicholas Sparks adaptation and a terrible one at that). Linden’s work will next be seen later this month in his 10 Years, that high school reunion film that stars everyone that he both wrote (loosely based on his own experiences at his high school reunion, brave soul that he is) and directed (as his debut). At the very least, Linden sounds like he has a ton of famous friends that he can potentially dispatch for Flight, which has yet to commence casting.
