Here’s a really cool movie that’s shaping up based on the bestselling non-fiction book Freakonomics, written by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. The book is still currently sitting on my stack of stuff to read (which only seems to grow, never shrink), but I’ve heard many rave reviews about how it applies the laws of economics to social and cultural trends to show the world from interesting new perspectives. The question you’re probably wondering is, how are they going to approach making an adaptation of a non-fiction book?

Producers Chad Troutwine (Paris Je T’aime) and Seth Gordon (The King of Kong) have chosen not to go with the fictionalized route that Richard Linklater used for Fast Food Nation. Instead, they will be assembling a cast of all-star documentary filmmakers to each direct a segment, which will then be combined into one feature (not unlike Paris Je T’aime!). The directors that they have recruited thus far include: Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing (Jesus Camp), Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), Laura Poitras (My Country My Country), Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight) and Jehane Noujaim (Control Room). Amazing. What a great idea. There was a similar documentary that I reviewed a couple years ago called The First Amendment Project, but based on some of the topics that Freakonomics will cover (cheating teachers and Japanese sumo wrestling scandals?!), I think this is going to be so much more quirky and fascinating. Shooting starts in January for a proposed summer release.

Incidentally, Freakonomics also spawned a blog, which is continually updated with intriguing stories. Mark my words, I think it stands to reason that Freakonomics will eventually become a TV series as well.