Exclusive: Tyler Perry Dares to Mess With the Hitchcock

By Dustin Rowles | Industry | April 22, 2010 |

Tyler Perry, the successful director behind Racial Stereotype, Religious Exploitation, and Inspirationally Misogynist Piece of Shit, Too, is developing It Had to Be Murder, based on the same Cornell Woolrich 1942 short story that inspired both Hitchock’s Rear Window and Shia LaBeouf’s Disturbia.

The story is about Hal Jeffries, confined to a wheelchair with a broken leg and allowed only to survey the daily lives of his neighbors across the courtyard. He discovers that one of them is a murderer and that he’s the next victim.

Sound familiar?

The good news here is that Perry is only producing. The bad news is that he’s producing through his shingle, 34th Street Films, which he specifically started to bring in other writers and directors to extend Perry’s brand. Which is to say, he wants to develop a Rear Window that appeals to the sentiment of his demographic. In other words, we can look forward to Madea in a wheelchair.

Dustin is the founder and co-owner of Pajiba. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba.