The duo who directed light-hearted classics like The LEGO Movie and produced the surprisingly ambitious Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has a new project on the horizon, and it's... different. The often-praised duo of Christopher Miller and Phil Lord will direct an upcoming film about the COVID-19 pandemic for Universal, presumably giving fans of their work a wicked case of tonal whiplash.

Lord and Miller will direct the Universal Pictures adaptation of The Premonition: A Pandemic Story, a nonfiction book hot off the presses after only just being released on May 4th, 2021. Written by Michael Lewis, the novel tells the story of a small group of people who saw the impending danger in the months before COVID-19 started shutting everything down after being allowed to progress into a global catastrophe, exploring how their efforts ended up saving a great many lives despite the U.S. president's unwillingness to take warnings about the virus seriously.

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Some may already be familiar with Lewis' work, as he also wrote The Big Short, which told the tale of the big financial crisis of 2008 and inspired the 2015 movie of the same name. Despite that film's comedy-drama spin on real-world events, it seems far more likely that The Premonition will take on a far more bleak and serious tone, given how things have turned out and how recent the events are. Look at it this way, making it a comedy would be like creating the very real Titanic board game barely a year after the actual ship sank. Worldwide tragedies need a little time to breathe.

While the project currently has no screenwriter attached, some are hoping for Lord and Miller to eventually take up that role alongside their directing and producing duties. Amy Pascal will also join as a producer. She's known for producing several Spider-Man projects, including Spider-Verse, alongside Lord and Miller with her company Pascal Pictures. Pascal also produced Little Women, which earned her an Academy Award nomination despite a few tiny anachronisms in the movie.

It's not terribly surprising to see a film about the pandemic itself already in the works. In fact, there are already a fair few out there that have attempted the same with varying degrees of success. But The Premonition seems to be taking a slightly different approach with its focus on the unsung heroes in the early days of the pandemic, ranging from a secret team of doctors to a 13-year-old girl who makes a breakthrough with her science project.

There's bound to be plenty of drama when this film finally comes to fruition. Maybe it won't be the most optimistic and uplifting experience like the endlessly wholesome Ted Lasso, but it's an important story that needs to be told.

The Premonition adaptation is currently in development.

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Source: Deadline