Shia LaBeouf To Star In Neil Burger's Dark Fields

"It's a rush, mon."

Shia LaBeouf starring in Adderall: The Movie? That's certainly what it sounds like. Variety reports that the Transformers actor has signed on for the lead in an adaptation of author Alan Glynn's 2002 topical druggy thriller Dark Fields. Neil Burger (The Illusionist, Re: Not Neil Hamburger), will direct for Universal. The book is about a lowly copy editor and former cocaine user (yet another Bright Lights, Big City for the Oughts!) who is introduced to a new (fictional) drug called MDT-48, a "smart pill" that allows him to quickly ascend the ranks of success in New York City, from modern day member of the "creative lower class" to hot shot financial badass. As for the Adderall/Ritalin comparison, here's an excerpt from a review I found online...

"What author Glynn has imagined is the perfect drug for the information age, one that makes its user a match for the ceaseless flow of data from television and newspapers to the Internet. Rather than being lost in the overload of endless news, history, opinions, and other information, the user of MDT-48 can take it all in and find meaningful patterns within it. It is an addictive combination..."

Of course, the arch of life calls for the lead character, named Eddie Spinola, to face a downward spiral of paranoia and other semi-psychotic side effects often referred to by real life junkies as "the fear." He also "loses weight and writes brilliantly" and becomes "obsessed with organizing his music collection to perfection." Can't wait for the snarky Gawker/blogverse posts tomorrow (actually, I can). There's also a big pharma conspiracy subplot in the book involving the intelligentsia and the apocalypse.

Between this project and LaBeouf's dream project biopic for the effed up rapper Cage, the guy is certainly looking to mess around with his image > growing a goatee. Might Dark Fields be Disturbia for the ever-popular "study drug"? The script was adapted by Leslie Dixon (The Birds remake, The Thomas Crown Affair), and Variety says she took a pay cut in favor of more creative control. I see this movie spurring many a 20/20 and Dateline special.

Discuss: If Shia LaBeouf is ready to go "dark" in a potential blockbuster is Dark Fields a good choice? Any Slashfilm readers dig/hate the book, which didn't sell too great (it will now) but received decent press?