Heartthrobs Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase to appear in teen mystery romance Zombie Town
The OG Saturday Night Live co-stars reunite for the first time since 1991's Nothing But Trouble
If there’s one thing kids love, it’s comedians from the original ’70s cast of Saturday Night Live. Well, maybe not all kids, but some kids, surely? (Consider this a formal petition to start a support group for dorks who checked out the Live From New York oral history from the library in their youth.) Like it or not, kids, two of the OG Not Ready For Primetime Players, Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase, are set to appear in the new R.L. Stine adaptation Zombie Town, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Per THR, this “mystery teen romancer” is about a kid named Mike (Marlon Kazadi) and his friend Amy (Madi Monroe), whose lives are thrown into chaos when they watch a horror movie called Zombie Town “and unexpectedly see the title characters leap off the screen and chase them through the theater.” The film, which has begun production in Ontario, is being directed by Canadian animator Peter Lepeniotis; along with Aykroyd, the cast is full of familiar Canadian faces, including Henry Czerny, Scott Thompson, and Bruce McCulloch.
R.L. Stine’s work has never lacked for adaptation, but after Netflix’s buzzy Fear Street trilogy, one might say we’re in a Stineaissance. John Gillespie, Trimuse Entertainment founder and executive producer of the new film, emphasized as much in his statement: “We are delighted to bring the pages of R.L. Stine’s Zombie Town to the screen and equally thrilled to be working with such an exceptional cast and crew on this production. A three-time Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award winner with book sales of over $500 million, R.L. Stine has a phenomenal track record of crafting stories that engage and entertain audiences.”
No word yet on what roles Aykroyd and Chase will be playing (placing bets on zombies), but the dorks who checked out Live From New York from the library in their youth may be interested to note that it marks the co-stars first collaboration since 1991’s Nothing But Trouble, written and directed by Aykroyd himself. They previously appeared together in Spies Like Us and Caddyshack II. It’s the stuff teen dreams are made of!