john hawks weblog

paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

"[Tom] Arnold will play Rog, a gay caveman"

Mon, 2005-11-28 04:24 -- John Hawks

That's the last line of this news item about the cast of the upcoming movie, "Homo Erectus: A Caveman Comedy":

The film centers on Ishbo ([Adam] Rifkin), a philosophical caveman who loves Fardart ([Ali] Larter), but she only has eyes for Ishbo's studly, dimwitted brother, Thudnik ([Hayes] MacArthur). [Kill Bill's David] Carradine and [Rocky's Talia] Shire will play Ishbo's parents, while [Tom] Arnold will play Rog, a gay caveman.

Hmmm...a philosophical caveman? Would that be like Johnny Hart?

The whole thing reminds me of Caveman, a movie from 1981 where Ringo Starr and Dennis Quaid compete for Shelley Long (!). Man, I thought that movie was great when I was 9! Maybe it made me an anthropologist....

OK, I've snapped out of it.

Neandertals

For years, I've worked on their bones. Now I'm working on their genes. Read more about the science studying these ancient people.

Denisova

From a finger bone of an ancient human came the record of a completely unexpected population. My lab is working on the science of the Denisova genome.

Acceleration

The advent of agriculture caused natural selection to speed up greatly in humans. We're uncovering some of the ways that populations have rapidly changed during the last 10,000 years.

Malapa

Just outside Johannesburg, the Malapa site is producing some of the most exciting finds in human evolution. This site is the headquarters of the Malapa Soft Tissue Project.