Get ready for The Cold War: a movie about rival ice cream truckers in Salem, Oregon.
The film will be co-produced by American Sniper’s Andrew Lazar and by Joshuah Bearman, on whose article the film Argo was based. In 2013, Bearman and journalist Joshua Davis set up Epic Magazine, a digital platform for long-form reportage with the potential for film and TV syndication.
The Cold War story was first published by Epic, then featured last year on a popular Radiolab podcast. Written by David Wolman and Julian Smith, it tells the tale of the feud and reconciliation between American ice-cream seller Dennis Roeper and Efrain Escobar, recently moved from Mexico.
What began in 2009 as a straightforward turf war swiftly mushroomed into a brutal contest, involving competitive pricing and even arson. Wolman and Smith’s piece contextualises the battle within the context of modern immigration and job market concerns.
In 1984, Bill Paterson starred in Comfort and Joy, a similarly themed film in which he plays a radio host reporting on a Glasgow battle between warring Italian ice-cream makers, initiated after one family trashes the other’s van.
