Chuck Palahniuk is one of the few writers who has developed a cult following among the younger generation, which is quite a feat when you consider he has to compete with TV, movies, video games and a million other forms of entertainment nowadays. The key, I think, is that his books are short, concise, and deal with disturbing issues using a lot of biting sarcasm and dark humour. Fight Club was the book/movie that made him a household name, and since then most of his other books have been optioned for feature films, but for some reason none of them have really progressed beyond the pre-production stage. I’m not sure why. Survivor, which in my opinion may be his best book, kind of got the shaft after 9/11 happened, since the book takes place on a hijacked plane where the main character retells his story to the flight’s black box before crash landing.

Well now it looks like his 2002 book Choke may finally be inching closer to becoming a movie over at Universal. Choke is the story of Victor Mancini, a medical-school dropout who pays his ailing mother’s medical bills by pretending to choke on food in restaurants and collecting pity money from the people who help save him. It was announced this week that Paul Bernbaum will be writing the screenplay. A look at his resume reveals his most recent film as being Hollywoodland (based on the life of George Reeves), but prior to that his most noteworthy gigs were writing for The A-Team, 21 Jump Street, and… Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventures: The TV Series? Well okay then. I’m not sure what to expect, but here’s to hoping this one actually pans out.