In February, I told you about Milwaukee native Paul McComas' new novel, "Planet of the Dates," published by The Permanent Press, which follows girl-crazy Milwaukee teen Phil Corcoran on his un-ending search for sex and love. That quest takes him around Milwaukee.
Now, McComas tells us, the book has been optioned for a motion picture by Hollywood producers Jason Koornik and Michael Henry.
McComas writes in an e-mail that, "Koornik's credits include the fine '07 science-fiction action/thriller ‘Next' (starring Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore and Jessica Biel) and two documentaries, one musical in focus, one literary. He is currently executive-producing the bio-pic ‘The Owl in Daylight,' with Paul Giamatti in the lead role as author Philip K. Dick. ... Henry's credits include ‘The Best Man' (with Seth Green), the '05 version of ‘Heidi' (Max Von Sidow) and ‘The Proposition' (Guy Pearce).
"This option, like any, means the movie MAY get made. It's not a guarantee -- but it is the crucial first step.
When the book was published, McComas told me, "As a semi-autobiographical novel, 'Planet' contains fictionalized versions of incidents that actually occurred both inside Milwaukee and nearby -- Port Washington, Mars Cheese Castle, Whitefish Bay, Shorewood," McComas tells me. "The events I made up entirely were easy to 'set' within the appropriate locales, simply because Milwaukee has a character all its own and is an easy city, over time, to 'know,' as one might know a person."
Read the full story on "Planet of the Dates."
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
