Eating championships seem funny in a strange kind of way but they also seem like they would invite a great deal of stress to the body that isn’t exactly healthy. Of course don’t tell that to champion eaters Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi. These guys make a habit of downing enough food to feed two to three families for at least a couple days and yet are still in decent shape. You’ve got to figure there’s a workout regimen they follow and that they don’t eat like this on a regular basis. How do they train though? What kind of things do they go through to get ready? And why hasn’t a movie been made about this yet? It seems like a rivalry that could be put on the big screen with ease, so why not try?
Let’s state it clearly here and now, this would have to be a dramatic comedy, with emphasis on the funny.
Director – Judd Apatow
I’ve got faith in Apatow for this film largely because he deals with subjects that aren’t always inherently funny but can be made to appear that way. His type of humor is kind of off the wall at times but it works more often than not and becomes an instant classic. For a food championship he could likely come up with a lot of ideas that would make the film highly entertaining.
Joey Chestnut – Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey hasn’t done a whole lot lately, at least not as much as he used to for reasons we won’t go into. But he’s got plenty of funny fuel left in the tank and this role seems like it would be made for him due to his ability to go over the top and just have fun with it. He’s the kind of guy that can take a serious or funny role and just roll with whatever comes as he makes something up according to his own idea of how the scene should play out.
Takeru Kobayashi – Steven Yeun
You might know this guy from The Walking Dead as Glenn. Too bad about his ending but fans knew it was coming unfortunately. Anyway, Steven has roughly the right look and build to play Takeru, and has already proven he’s a good enough actor to be paired with someone like Jim Carrey. The matchup would be classic as Carrey would no doubt take the lead and Steven would follow. I can only imagine that this would be a unique and hopefully successful pairing.
Plot
The first plot that comes to mind would be to see how this rivalry between the two began. Perhaps show how they each got their start and move swiftly from that point onward into the present. It would be important to keep the stories as straight and true to form as possible while attempting to add some humor and necessary drama to it. The story of their rivalry would be the main point of the film, and would showcase how they both came to such renowned champion eaters.
It’s an extremely rough sketch at best, but I think this film could work. With Apatow at the helm it could be a funny and engaging flick.
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