EXCLUSIVE: 'Zombieland' Writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to Helm 'Doc and Howie'

Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick must be obsessed with the dead.

The writers, who made a killing with Zombieland, have become attached to make their directorial debut with the comedy Doc and Howie, which Montecito Picture Co. is producing.

TV writer-producer Steve Leff penned the original screenplay, which landed in the top dozen “most liked” reads on last year’s screenwriter Black List under its original title, Doc and Howie Whack a Granny. Montecito hopes to start production by early summer. The film is likely to be released by Paramount, where Montecito has its first-look deal.

In the story, described as being in the tone of Harold and Kumar, the title characters accidentally kill an elderly woman when they neglect to help her carry her groceries up the stairs. In a fortuitous twist, the incident brings them into contact with the woman’s hot granddaughters, and they struggle with the dilemma of whether to tell the women the truth.

Since Zombieland hit, the WME-repped scribes have been much in demand. The pair is writing a Zombieland sequel for Columbia, a G.I. Joe sequel for Paramount and the Deadpool spinoff for Fox. Their project Earth vs. Moon is in development at Universal with producer Scott Stuber, and they just set up the comic book adaptation Cowboy Ninja Viking at Disney.