Working on IFC’s community-minded quirkfest Portlandia, writer-director Jonathan Krisel and writer Graham Wagner have built a satirical world the echos the proudly weird city of Portland, Oregon. Now, according to Deadline, the pair has successfully pitched a film adaptation of Lydia Millet’s Mermaids In Paradise. Krisel will serve as the film’s director, with Wagner authoring the script.
Mermaids In Paradise tells the tale of a newlywed couple on their honeymoon who discover that mermaids are very much real. They then team up with a former Navy SEAL and a Japanese VJ to prevent greedy corporatists from rounding up these exotic creatures and turning their home into a theme park. Seeing as this synopsis reads like it could easily be a sketch on Portlandia, Krisel and Wagner should be well suited for the task. The busy pair are also working on a new FX series, Baskets, starring Zach Galifianakis and Louis CK.