Sci-fi comedy “Cold Storage” marks Joe Keery’s first return to the big screen since the conclusion of his breakout role as Steve Harrington in “Stranger Things.” 

While all eyes might be on the rising star going to battle against a monster fungus alongside Liam Neeson and Georgina Campbell, there might be an even more interesting story to tell by the film’s screenwriter, David Koepp. That’s because he also happens to be the author of the novel the film is based upon. 

Koepp has nearly four decades of experience writing for film and happens to be the fourth-highest grossing screenwriter of all time. The films he’s written have taken in nearly $3 billion at the domestic box office. 

He wrote the screenplays for “Death Becomes Her,” “Carlito’s Way,” “Angels & Demons” and “War of the Worlds.” He’s also brought several of Hollywood’s favorite franchises to life with screenplays for “Spider-Man,” “Jurassic Park” and two of its sequels, and the two most recent Indiana Jones films. 

But “Cold Storage,” published in 2019, marked his first foray into prose. 

While Koepp told screenwriter John August that year that he tried to separate his job as a novelist from that as a screenwriter, it’s hard not to think that his decades of scriptwriting experience informed at least some of his choices in the book. 

“I really tried to tell the screenwriter part of myself to shut up …” during the process, Koepp said in a podcast with August.  

“You really have to actively squelch that part.”

Whether he intended to do it or not, Koepp wrote a book perfectly suited for an adaptation—especially if you’re the type who prefers a more faithful retelling. 

At just over 300 pages, it’s a relatively succinct book. There’s one primary setting—a decommissioned government site-turned-storage facility—and a couple other secondary ones, and a limited cast with very few side plots. Koepp likely solved one of the main issues screenwriters are sure to have—trying to fit an epically long book into a 90- to 120-minute film. 

Keery plays Teacake, an employee at the self-storage facility. In the book, his character has a crush on fellow worker Naomi, played by Georgina Campbell. The two stumble upon a deadly parasitic fungus that has awoken from a deep-free sleep as temperatures rise in the hidden depths of the one-time government storage facility. 

Only two people alive are aware of the fungus and its deadly potential—Robert Quinn (Liam Neeson) and Trini Romano (Lesley Manville), retired government operatives who, decades earlier, helped contain the initial outbreak of the fungus among a remote tribe in Australia. 

The fungus is insidious and works quickly. Able to break its way through even the most advanced of hazmat suits and plastic, it makes its way into the brain, turning its host into a ticking time bomb seeking to spread the contagion before exploding into a disgustingly gooey mess. 

Now in his golden years, Robert makes his way to the storage site to help the unwitting Teacake and Naomi halt the spread of the fungus and save the world. With a bad back, Robert knows he must rely on the hapless Teacake and slightly more savvy Naomi, especially since Trini—a longtime smoker who now requires oxygen tanks—can’t do much more than serve as his brash taxi driver. 

Koepp’s characters are quirky, his dialogue is amusing and the action moves at a decent-enough pace to keep the reader—and, I imagine—the viewer’s attention. We’ve had lots of zombie-esque books and movies in recent years, but “Cold Storage” offers a refreshing take, combining humor, action and downright grossness in the same vein as “Zombieland” and “Shaun of the Dead.” 

If the film, which will be released February 13, is as entertaining as the novel, let’s hope another studio picks up Koepp’s sophomore book, “Aurora,” after Netflix dropped plans in 2024 to bring it to the screen. 

About the writer

Danielle Haynes is the co-founder and co-editor of Booked & Screened, covering book-to-screen adaptations, film and TV development. The writer has really grown to love sci-fi novels and is eager to catch “Cold Storage.”