Hey folks... Harry here. What with all the excitement about FIGHT CLUB that is bleeding all over the internet at the moment.. Well, eyes are focusing like laserbeams upon the work of Chuck Palahniuk. This writer is coming out in a very big way off of the hype building off of FIGHT CLUB. To savvy readers, he's no secret, but Hollywood has just opened their eyes on him, and it looks as if ol Fox is wanting to secure the screen rights to some of his works... at least if the following is to be believed. Time will tell now won't it? Here we go...
I have been a longtime reader of your site for about three years now. And in that time I have only sent in three spy reports for three horrible private screenings I saw.
Well, tonight I write to you with something that I think is worth printing. I am a HUGE fan of the work of Oregon writer Chuck Palahniuk. I read Fight Club back in 97' a year after it had come out, and then kept strict eyes on the release of Survivor. Just finished reading Invisible Monsters around three weeks ago and am now, hard at work on creating a web page dedicated to this awesome writer.
It seems, that besides David Fincher, other directors are also starting to pick up on his brilliance.
Last night, me and three friends attended a small reading he was giving at The Drawing Center in downtown New York. We showed up around three minutes late but caught readings from all three of his books (two many threes around here).
Anyway, after the reading, I cornered Palahniuk and got to shake his hand as well as have him sign his books for me. Then, we got to talking. He spoke, rather enthusiastically about his meeting Brad Pitt and how every girl they would pass while walking down some sidewalk away from set, would flash her breasts at Pitt.
But he also spoke about how Twentieth Century Fox had already optioned both of his other books. He said that Danny Boyle and company were seriously thinking of signing on to direct "Survivor." While Bill 'Gods and Monsters' Condon wanted to do "Invisible Monsters," with Helena Bonham Carter making a strong push to play the lead role.
To anyone who wants to know what these two books deal with, neither of them have been screen-written yet, only optioned.
"Survivor" deals with the only surviving member of the Creedish 'death cult' who is then turned into a media frenzied celebrity. Until he is hunted by a secret murderer, going around and murdering the prior survivors of the Creedish religion and making them look like suicide.
"Invisible Monsters" is about a supermodel who is disfigured in a drive-by shooting and then has to create a new persona in each city she passes through while driving cross-country with a friend she met at the hospital who is one last step away from a complete sex-change operation (guy into girl).
Let's just say that while Fight Club makes huge statements about modern day consumerism and the decay of the ordinary twenty to thirty something. Well, Survivor does that too, to the nth degree. Only it takes its stance on organized religion and the media making everything into Hollywood. And Invisible Monsters does the same against the fashion industry and the lunacy of it all.
Both books are excellent and must be read twice. And both should fit their respective directors just as well as "Fight Club" has fit David Fincher.
Trust me, after October 15th, audiences will be begging to see more work by this literary genius. At least now, we have a good idea about who will be carrying on his word.
ps I remember Moriarty was raving about Palahniuk in one of his Rumblings not too far back....please, make sure he reads this. (and to anyone interested in a GREAT David Fincher interview, go pick up the new Film Comment with Fight Club on the cover.)
The Interloper
