Brad Anderson, director of Session 9, The Machinist and more dark, brooding films, is taking on something considerably lighter. His new film In Search of Captain Zero is based on the true story of a surfer who sold all his possessions and headed off to find his missing friend, who had vanished somewhere in Central America. The script for the adaptation was penned by Michael Bacall, writer of the Jump Street films and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

Deadline has the news about Brad Anderson directing the In Search of Captain Zero movie, with casting currently underway as the film aims for a spring 2020 start date. Based on the memoir by Allan Weisbecker, the story follows Weisbecker in 1996 after he “sold his home and possessions, loaded his dog and surfboards into his truck, and set off in search of his best friend and long-time surfing companion Christopher, who had vanished into the depths of Central America.” Here’s the book’s slightly more detailed synopsis:

In 1996, Allan Weisbecker sold his home and his possessions, loaded his dog and surfboards into his truck, and set off in search of his long-time surfing companion, Patrick, who had vanished into the depths of Central America. In this rollicking memoir of his quest from Mexico to Costa Rica to unravel the circumstances of Patrick’s disappearance, Weisbecker intimately describes the people he befriended, the bandits he evaded, the waves he caught and lost en route to finding his friend.

This sounds like it could result in a memorable film, especially if the casting goes well. It also sounds quite different from anything Anderson has done so far, which makes this all the more interesting. I’m a big fan of Anderson’s Session 9, and while I’m always up for more horror from him, I’m also curious to see him stretch himself with this sort of character-driven material.

Anderson’s next is the Netflix movie Fractured, which has a synopsis that sounds more in line with his previous work: