Alcon Entertainment, fresh off its massive hit, The Blind Side, is planning another true-life tale, Late Bloomer. The film will be based on Ken Baker’s Oprah endorsed book, Man Made: A Memoir Of My Body, which chornicled Baker’s struggle with the effects of a benign tumour that rested against his pituitary gland.
Its presence delayed his development and meant he didn’t go through puberty. He then had an operation to remove the tumour at the age of 27, which restored his normal hormonal balance and resulted in Baker going through all of the effects of puberty in an incredibly condensed three-week period. Despite his medical issues, Baker has had a very successful career and is currently a news editor at E! Entertainment.
While the book was relatively serious (although with humourous moments), the film is being re-imagined as a broad comedy, with screenwriter Joe Nussbaum brought in to add the funnies to Gary Rosen’s less comic script.
Although we can see why there might be humour in the situation, turning it into a broad comedy seems a step too far. After Blind Side, you’d imagine Alcon would be thinking that unusual and inspiration would be the way to go, but apparently laughing at someone going through delayed puberty because of a serious medical condition is far more up their street.