Oct 14 2009 Why Not?: Gus Van Sant, Bret Easton Ellis Teaming Up
Joining Spider-Man and Werewolf in the ranks of team-ups I didn't see coming but could see working out pretty well, Gus Van Sant and Bret Easton Ellis have decided to collaborate on adapting the Vanity Fair article "The Golden Suicides" into a new film script. Variety, please explain the story:
Duncan and Blake formed a popular couple on the downtown New York and Venice, Calif., art scenes. She was one of the first videogame designers for girls, and his "digital paintings" -- kaleidoscopic images shown on plasma screens -- established him as a rising star on the circuit.The couple descended into a paranoid spiral when the artists developed a consuming belief that government and religious organizations were conspiring against them. She killed herself in 2007. Blake found her body on the floor of their bedroom, and walked into the Atlantic Ocean a week later, ending his life.
Sounds like a match made in three-named heaven!
May 11 2007 More Bret Easton Ellis: "The Informers"
"Can you identify the man you say you saw stealing watermelons, Mrs. Stanton?"
Say what you will about 10 page ruminations on Whitney Houston, Bret Easton Ellis writes a pretty kickass book. And with an Informers movie adaptation now in the works to go along with American Psycho, Rules of Attraction, and Less Than Zero, he may be entering Steven King territory where even his email forwards of pee-drinking monkey videos get made into movies.
Here's what the "journalists" say about it:
Based on the author's 1995 collection of interrelated vignettes, the film is the first to be adapted by Ellis himself (with help from documentarian Nicholas Jarecki, who was originally set to direct and is also a producer). As can be expected of Ellis' work, the film will follow a number of amoral characters, including a pop star, a Hollywood player and a vampire. The criss-crossing stories are set in Los Angeles in 1983, though it is possible the adaptation -- like Rules -- could be modernized.
UPDATE: According to iwatchstuff.com reader Pat Bateman (it might not be his real name): Over the summer during his book tour for "Lunar Park", Ellis confirmed the screen adaptation would take place in the 80s.
May 2 2007 Bret Easton Ellis to Adapt The Frog King
Using an axe gives me wood
Bret Easton Ellis, esteemed author of American Psycho, Rules of Attraction, and Less Than Zero, is writing a movie adaptation of The Frog King, which will star Joseph Gordon-Levitt from 3rd Rock From the Sun, and more recently, The Lookout.
Never heard of The Frog King? Uh, me neither.
How say you, internet?
The Frog King follows Harry, a man of privilege who is farting around in publishing, hating the politics and pretension that surround his work. This inspires him to come in late, spike his coffee and be a general ass -- a mindset that seeps into his relationship with Evie, an editorial assistant. He wants her, but he also wants to cheat on her.
Well I hope to God he cheats on her with a couple of hookers. Hookers that he later kills. Get writin', Bret, Daddy needs his medicine.
I also hope to God Joseph Gordon-Levitt takes the hyphen out of his name. I don't care if your mom was a hippie, pick a goddamned name. Same with those assholes from the Mars Volta. Rodriguez-Lopez? Seriously, you really needed both of those in there? Look, if you've got one ethnicity, go with one name. Having McCarthy-O'Sheas or Battaglia-Puccinis running around is just polluting the Earth with unnecessary syllables.
