For over a century, directors have transformed the written word, lifting compelling characters, lively dialogue and stunning landscapes from typed pages and bringing them to life on the big screen. Francis Ford Coppola’s film, “Apocalypse Now” (1979), was based on Joseph Conrad’s novel, “Heart of Darkness” (1899), Greta Gerwig’s coming-of-age film, “Little Women” (2019), follows the lives of the four March sisters from Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel of the same name, and “After” (2019), a sultry college romance, borrowed its plot from a fanfiction. But Billy Park (25B) found inspiration in an even more peculiar place — a viral meme.
One day, while scrolling on his phone, Park came across a meme called “The Group Chat Got Leaked.” This popular post features FBI agents arresting men, others posing for mug shots and some even suiting up for war. Park, who had been searching for a film topic, knew he had struck cinematic gold with this trending joke.
“By how viral it was, you can tell that a lot of people tapped into this universal thing,” Park said. “It was such a relatable situation, right. It was so comedic. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s pretty cool. That could be a cool idea to make a movie out of.’”…