If you've enjoyed a comic book from the past 20ish years, chances are Brian K. Vaughan has had something to do with it. A multiple Eisner and Harvey Award winner, Vaughan's sterling titles include Saga, Y: The Last Man, and Runaways, which was recently turned into a Marvel/Hulu show. But around 10 years ago, roughly at the same time when Vaughan was writing for Lost, he wrote a darkly comedic high-concept feature screenplay called Roundtable.
It ranked high on The Black List, an industry list of well-liked, unproduced screenplays. And now, while it's not being produced as an actual film (yet), Vaughan's Roundtable will be read out loud at a Black List-sponsored Los Angeles event on November 2. In other words -- Roundtable shall have its day in King Arthur's court.
Why would I bring up King Arthur, you ask? Because Vaughan's script, unlike his contemporary comic-driven work, hearkens back to medieval mythology. Here's the official synopsis from The Black List.
When an ancient evil returns to terrorize modern-day England, legendary wizard Merlin must assemble a new Roundtable, only to learn that today’s knights aren’t noble warriors, but athletes, businessmen, and celebrities like Sir Michael Caine.
Sir Michael Caine has to team up with, like, LeBron James and Elon Musk to defeat an ancient evil? Sign us the heck up! But, also, we maybe get why this wouldn't be such an eager production for a major studio to put on. Huge special effects, celebrities playing themselves, a critique of our celebrity-obsessed culture? It sounds like Charlie Kaufman meets the MCU, and it sounds like a logistically difficult and culturally risky project for a studio to take. Still, Vaughan is just happy it'll get read out loud to an audience, stating on his Instagram, "I can’t believe this is really happening, but the comedy screenplay ROUNDTABLE I wrote over a decade ago is getting a very special live reading with an unbelievable cast of superstar actors here in Los Angeles on November 2nd at 8pm."
So who exactly are the superstar actors giving Vaughan such giddy disbelief? Unfortunately, The Black List never announces their casts ahead of time. But previous actors have included Rachel McAdams, Jon Hamm, Patton Oswalt and Gina Rodriguez, just to name a view. If you're interested in Vaughan's script, want to see which famous folks read his words, and live in Los Angeles, tickets for the reading are available now. And check out Vaughan's official IG post below. For more on Vaughan, did you know they're making Paper Girls into an Amazon series?