• Harold Ramis was supposed to direct a version with John Belushi and Richard Pryor
• Two other supposed Ignatiuses who were reportedly signed on, at different points, but never made it onscreen: Chris Farley and John Candy
• The only adaptation I ever got genuinely excited about was the Steven Soderbergh version, which—here reports vary—would've featured a script by Soderbergh and Scott Kramer, and would have been directed by either Soderbergh or David Gordon Green. Throw in Will Ferrell as Ignatius, and I think this thing might've been fantastic. This one even had a public reading of the screenplay at one point—with Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Mos Def, Rosie Perez, Jesse Eisenberg, and more participating—but still got off the ground. Granted, I'm a huge Soderbergh fan, but I think this could've been pretty remarkable.
• When I picture Ignatius in my head he's basically a sweatier, glowering version of Uncle Buck-era John Candy, so take that for what it's worth. Uncle Buck, apparently, is my ideal Ignatius. Which makes me think John Hughes probably could've done a pretty interest—no. Not going to finish that thought. Oh! Or John C. Reilly? I don't know.
ANYWAY. Considering Hollywood's ever-increasing resistance to producing original material (last night I endured Men in Black 3, what what), it's only a matter of time until some adaptation of Dunces ends up happening, regardless of the fact that it'd take more than a few genius-level people to turn the book into anything remotely filmable. I'm not filled with glee about Bobin and Galifianakis—I like both of their work, just not sure if I like it that much—but if that duo ends up making this thing, well, it could definitely be a lot worse. Which seems to be about the best one can say when it comes to a beloved book getting pushed in front of the cameras, whether it belongs there or not.