George R.R. Martin has been working on producing a short film adaptation of Howard Waldrop’s “The Ugly Chickens,” and it looks like it’s complete and heading out to the festivals.
Martin announced on his blog that The Ugly Chickens is now finished and stars Felicia Day (MST3K, The Guild, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as the protagonist of Waldrop’s award-winning short story featuring Dodos. The short is directed by Mark Raso and is based on a screenplay by Michael Cassutt.
This is just one of the shorts based on Waldrop’s stories that Martin has produced, with the others being the 2022 adaptation of “Night of the Cooters” starring Vincent D’Onofrio, and a recently completed animated short based on “Mary-Margaret Road Grader.”
Waldrop sadly passed away this January, but according to Martin, the author saw a rough cut of The Ugly Chickens before he died. “He liked it, which pleases me no end,” Martin wrote. “I only wish we had been able to screen the final cut for him.”
The Ugly Chickens as well as Mary-Margaret Road Grader will hit the festival circuit soon, and Martin has promised to share any updates on when we’ll be able to see them in their entirety.
In the meantime, we have trailers for both. Check them out below.
