Another Chuck Palahniuk Movie Gets a Relatively Unknown Director
It looks like the release of Choke has finally opened the floodgates for more Chuck Palahniuk novels on the big screen, and while normally I’d be excited about the prospects, I’m starting to wonder if all these announcements are actually a good thing. I thought Clark Gregg’s adaptation of Choke was decent (albeit a little bland), but I don’t think I’m alone in saying that I’d like to see someone with a little more visual panache take on any future Palahniuk books.
Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend, Constantine) is still supposedly trying to do Survivor, and recently it was reported that an unnamed Swedish director had been secured for Lullaby (possibly Ulf Janssen). Now this week The Hollywood Reporter tells us that Belgian director Koen Mortier is attached to direct Palahniuk’s Haunted for New School Media. My initial reaction: Who the hell is Koen Mortier?
Apparently Mortier directed a movie called Ex-Drummer that is dark, gritty and very “punk rock” (Todd over at Twitch seems pretty pleased with the choice). I gotta say, the trailer for Ex-Drummer didn’t do much for me, although I did dig the use of Devo’s “Mongoloid”. What I’m most curious about is seeing exactly how they decide to adapt this book because if I’m not mistaken it’s really a collection of 23 short stories. This includes Palahniuk’s infamous short story Guts, which
is supposedly so graphic that live readings from it have caused people to faint. I definitely can’t wait to see that one on the big screen! What do you think, will Haunted make for a good movie, or should Palahniuk quit while the memory of Fight Club still has not quite faded?
Comments (2)
I dont know exactly how they are going to do haunted and im not sure if they even should. I’ve been yearning for new palahniuk movies for years but Haunted wasnt on that list. The main storyline is pretty weak and while the short stories are mostly gold, Im not sure how that would work out on film. Especially with some of the more gruesome ones such as “guts” which i personally read to some friends of mine and they still dont look at me the same. Im still interested in the project, but has there ever been a movie that encapsulated 23 different short stories?
Posted by Ducky on October 21st, 2008Yes its essentially a collection of short stories, but the stories are told through an overall storyline. They are told by each individual character on a stage in front of all the others. I’m sure all that stuff could be put into a movie, just depends how it’d have to be cut.
And I also enjoyed that use of Mongoloid, except for I know they probably used that because Devo made a bad deal awhile back and all their music is up for grabs without their acknowledgment. Thats why you hear them in so many car commercials.
Posted by Alex R. Cronk-Young on October 22nd, 2008Leave a Reply