EXCLUSIVE: Big Issue founder John Bird‘s Do You Sincerely Want to Smash Capitalism and Have a Full Sex Life? is being adapted for the screen by the production outfit behind raunchy BAFTA-nominee Good Luck to You, Leo Grande.
Bird, an icon of the British journalism and charity world, will soon publish his debut novel, which is about “history, mythical imagined beings, philosophy” and is part based on his life experiences. The project could be for TV or film and has been optioned by Genesius Pictures prior to landing a book publishing deal.
The novel brings to life Bird’s thoughts via a regime of interventionist Faeries led by their revenge-seeking queen, called Spunkthought, who now insists her story is told and published widely. On multiple January 30ths, which is Bird’s birthday, many notable figures including The Beatles, Elvis, Charles I, John Profumo and Hitler are intercepted by arch-interventionist Faerie, named Nippit-in-the bud. But this is to no avail, as kidnapped ‘Old Bird’ is forced to relate his life story to a reluctant, argumentative assistant called Grimtale.
Bird, who is a Lord, published an autobiography in 2002 but has never written a novel. In 1991, the 78-year-old founded The Big Issue, a respected newspaper that offers homeless people the opportunity to earn an income by selling copies on the street.
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The film or TV version is being developed by Genesius, which produced quadruple-BAFTA nominee Good Luck to You, Leo Grande starring Emma Thompson, about a woman who seeks a young sex worker to help her experience pleasurable sex. Upcoming projects include Pierce Brosnan-starrer Four Letters of Love and vampire thriller The Radleys based on the Matt Haig novel.
Bird said: “Hegel once said – ‘We learn from history that we do not learn from history.’ Something I profoundly agree with. I was born on the 30th January so when I was trying to prove how I was so important in the world, an early preoccupation, I gathered all of the 30th of Januarys together and that’s how I discovered how important history had been that had flowed through the day of my birth. The book is a culmination of a life’s reflection on such matters and is a disastrous book of a disastrous life. And I hope an equally disastrous film.”
Genesius MD Debbie Gray added: “John has lived an extraordinary life which has informed his new novel, charting history and life through a fantastical fictional world of his creation. The story takes us on a whimsical journey that I was gripped by from start to finish, with glimpses of John’s own life experiences, and we can’t wait to help bring the book to life on the big screen.”