Film to be made about real life story of ice cream van driver rivalry

New Line Cinema has picked up the rights to The Cold War, detailing a bizarre American turf war

Stanger than fiction, as they say.

New Line Cinema is looking to bring to screen the bizarre tale of an ice cream van driver rivalry in Salem, Ore that ended in chaos (via The Hollywood Reporter); from price slashing, tailgating, to arson. A turf war pitched between family man Dennis Roeper and aspiring entrepreneur and Mexican immigrant Efrain Escobar, it threatened to destroy the most important thing there is in the world: the joy of ice cream.

The studio will adapt the article The Cold War, penned for Epic Magazine and later featured on Radiolab, by David Wolman and Julian Smith; with the aim to explore the nature of the modern job market, attitudes to immigration, and the very essence of the American Dream.

It may seem an odd choice for big screen success, but the film appears to be in steady hands; Joshuah Bearman and Joshua Davis of Epic Magazine are onboard as producers, whose own articles have already been adapted into critically and financially successful works. Bearman, for example, penned the piece which provided initial inspiration for Ben Affleck's Oscar-winning Argo.

Andrew Lazar is also producing, who previously helped bring to screen true-life tales American Sniper and I Love You Phillip Morris.