Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
Neil Gaiman and Roger Avery Leave Black Hole
Posted on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
After two years, Roger Avery and Neil Gaiman (Beowulf) have officially stepped down as screenwriters of the big screen adaptation of Charles Burn’s graphic novel Black Hole. Gaiman tells MTV that when David Fincher signed on to develop/direct the project, he “explained his process consisted of having over ten drafts, done over and over.” The screenwriting duo were asked if they were interested in doing that. “And we definitely weren’t,” admits Gaiman.
Fincher still has their last draft of the script, but Burns tells Shock that the Gaiman/Avery script is “not going to be used.” And instead, Fincher has apparently brought another writer on to the project. But does anyone know who the new screenwriter is?
Set in the 1970s, Black Hole is a 12-issue comic book miniseries that tells the story of a bunch of teenagers who catch “the Bug,” a fictional, incurable STD that causes them to develop hideously grotesque physical deformities, turning the infected teens into social outcasts. “What we become witness to instead is a fascinating and eerie portrait of the nature of high school alienation itself - the savagery, the cruelty, the relentless anxiety and ennui, the longing for escape. And then the murders start.”
David Fincher to Produce CG Animated Comic Book Film The Goon
Posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
“Feed me, feed me comics,” booms Hollywood. According to TheGoon.com, /Film fave, David Fincher, has optioned movie rights for The Goon with plans to adapt the Dark Horse comic book into a CG animated film from Blur Studio. If this news sounds familiar, back in March it was announced that Fincher would team with Blur to produce and co-direct a new animated Heavy Metal anthology flick.
Created by Eric Powell in 1999, The Goon, “tells the adventures of a muscle-bound brawler who claims to be the primary enforcer for a feared mobster. The Goon and his sidekick Franky often get tied up in other machinations, often in relation to the evil zombie gangs. There is a heavy slant on the paranormal.” The crew at Slashfilm is new to this title. Quint at AICN gives the series a glowing endorsement, calling it a “Depresson-era Hellboy” but even more twisted. Chime in with your opinions of the material in the comments.
It wasn’t specified whether Fincher, who is expected to lock up the Oscars with December’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, would direct. One would assume not, but clearly his interest in genre fare is strong. He remains attached to direct a live-action adaptation of the STD-horror graphic novel Black Hole from screenwriters Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary. Farther back in Fincher’s fridge is Image Comics’ Torso.
Discuss: Fincher’s deep bench of cool movie material. Whatever, I’m not rephrasing that.
Update: /Film reader, Hessel, informs us that “Goon fights a giant chameleon, ’nuff said.” We’re sold.
David Fincher to Direct Graphic Novel Adaptation Black Hole
Posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
Update: Neil Gaiman said on his personal blog yesterday that he is still co-writing the Black Hole script with Roger Avary. Seems rather stoked on Fincher’s involvement as well. Thanks to /Film reader ‘Nancy.’
“David Fincher tackling STDs, not like herpes, worse,” is the imagined, beaded brow pitch to the studio. It worked. The director of the Oscar-shunned modern masterpiece Zodiac, as well as Fight Club, is attached to direct a film based on the comics-turned-acclaimed graphic novel, Black Hole, by Charles Burns. Brad Pitt’s Plan B is producing the project, but like DiCaprio’s Akira, no official word if Pitt is involved to star. Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman were set to adapt the screenplay in 2006, but no word if Fincher is doing his own thing here.
Set in the ’70s, Black Hole is a 12-issue comic that followed teenagers who spread “the Bug,” a fictional, incurable STD that causes the sexually-active to develop horrific physical deformities, as well as those who didn’t catch it but reacted to the plague. As you might expect, this turns the infected teens into social outcasts, and the plot synopsis at publisher Pantheon Graphics reads, “What we become witness to instead is a fascinating and eerie portrait of the nature of high school alienation itself - the savagery, the cruelty, the relentless anxiety and ennui, the longing for escape. And then the murders start.”
Fincher’s next theatrical release is December’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button starring Brad Pitt, which is already receiving almighty buzz. Unlike Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, I don’t think Fincher has crafted his end-all-be-all American classic yet. And while Black Hole sounds too fun and twisted to be it, I hope he’ll next be gearing up for the serious sci-fi epic Rendezvous with Rama, one of several projects he’s latched to, another being the Eliot Ness serial killer flick Torso. But a Fincher Ghost World, are you friggin’ kidding? The eclipse has played into some strangely bi-polar news today, and this may be the peak of awesome.
Of note, Alexandre Aja was originally on board to direct this, but he has other fish to fry (and can I just add that a mere two /Film comments for his upcoming Piranha 3D periodically had me questioning life?).
Along with Blankets, Black Hole has been in my “graphic novel requisite procrastination” queue on Amazon for at least six months. I didn’t realize it was originally published by the long-gone Kitchen Sink Press, a company I fondly remember back in the day when I bought comics, if only for seeing its Crow titles amongst the latest The Maxx and Pitt. Damn, this is going to be cool flick, nostalgia can take a hike. And shout out to Paramount Pictures for booking Fincher for three flicks in a row now. That rocks.
Discuss: With Black Hole, will David Fincher do for sex what Darren Afonofsky did for hard drugs and Keith David in Requiem for a Dream?
Source Link: Variety
