‘Haunted’ Film In Development
Hollywood’s favorite shock novelist Chuck Palahniuk is getting another movie adaptation in the form of Haunted. The book’s film rights are being optioned with the newly formed New School Media, headed by former ICM literary agent Brian Levy. Koen Mortier, whose directorial debut Ex-Drummer premiered at least year’s Toronto Film Festival, will direct the adaptation.
Variety describes Haunted as focusing on "a group of characters who answer an ad for a writers retreat and unwittingly end up competing in a Survivor-like scenario, where the host withholds heat, power and food. As the storytellers grow more desperate they ruthlessly plot to make themselves the hero of the reality show or film that they expect will be made from their plight."
It’s strange to see Haunted getting the film treatment before other popular Palahniuk properties, namely Survivor, Lullaby and Invisible Monsters. Those novels are more story focused, whereas Haunted is essentially an anthology piece with a loose plot weaving throughout each character’s short stories. The novel’s most notorious story is Guts, which depicts three grotesque masturbation related accidents. The story, which is incredibly vile and definitely not for kids, is available on Chuck Palahniuk’s official site. Proceed with extreme caution.
The Oregon-based author has seen two of his earlier novels hit the big screen. David Fincher directed the 1999 breakout hit Fight Club, starring Edward Norton and Brad Pitt in his famous turn as lunatic Tyler Durden. Most recently, Palahniuk’s Choke is heading to cinemas as directed by Clark Gregg. Sam Rockwell stars as Victor Mancini, a con artist who chokes in restaurants, prompting rich people to save his life and line his pockets with a dependable flow of income as a sign of gratitude. Choke was released on September 26, 2008 in the United States on a limited basis.
Having never heard of Koen Mortier before reading the news about Haunted being optioned for a movie, I can really only say that I'm definitely excited but a little nervous. The idea of preserving the continuity of the over all plot being intersected by series of vignets seems challenging, so I hope Mortier IS the right man for the job. Very interested to see how the final short "Obsolete" translates on film. By far one of the best short stories I've ever read.
Very much agreed on Obsolete. That could be a very powerful ending if done right. I'm very curious to see how Guts gets trimmed down, because there's no way it'll make it into the film as is without getting an NC-17 rating.
i hope he does not trim down guts to much, but it will be hard to not get a NC-17 rating
I think they should just give up and opt for an NC-17 in the first place: you can't make this movie with an R rating without compromising the surreal, brutal qualities so present throughout the entire book. and yet it feels like it needs a biggish budget; imagine the casting possibilities if it had the blockbuster status that Fight Club did. I would like to see Palahniuk's work allowed to thrive on the big screen… Its too bad that in the end it may turn out to be a choice of one or the other as is often the case with such work.
Hopefully Guts will have somewhat of the same effect on listeners during the film.