Gaiman and Avary Fall Out of Fincher’s ‘Black Hole’
Back in February, LiC passed along a Variety report that David Fincher had signed on to direct Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary’s adaptation of Charles Burns’ 12-issue comic Black Hole. As big fans of Mr. Fincher (Zodiac) and Mr. Gaiman (The Sandman comic) and with a growing appreciation for Mr. Burns (see Fear(s) of the Dark), there was much rejoicing at the LiC head offices.
Alas, MTV reported yesterday that Gaiman and Avary weren’t too keen on Fincher’s work methods and they’ve bailed on the project leaving their most recent draft in Fincher’s hands. Jennifer Vineyard quotes Gaiman as saying: “David explained his process consisted of having over ten drafts, done over and over, and Roger and I were sort of asked…if we were interested in doing that. And we definitely weren’t.”
Written over a 10-year period, Black Hole is about a mysterious sexually transmitted disease that leads to physical mutations as it spreads among teens in a suburb of Seattle in the 1970s. No word yet on who Fincher will recruit to help him bring Burns’ story to the big screen or where this film fits into Fincher’s big picture. He’s also currently attached to direct Torso (based on Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko’s graphic novel about Eliot Ness), The Killer (based on the graphic novel by Matz) and a segment of Heavy Metal.
Via: CHUD
Filed under: Development, News, Pre-Production
Tags: Black Hole, Brian Michael Bendis, Charles Burns, David Fincher, Heavy Metal, Marc Andreyko, Matz, Neil Gaiman, Roger Avery, The Killer, Torso
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Rats. Personally, I’d rather see the Gaiman and Avery script matched with a different director than the other way around, which sounds like the way it ended up. But I know how you guys feel about your golden Fincher.
I love Fincher, but I don’t necessarily disagree with you.
It’s kind of a toss-up…or as my father used to say “six one way and half dozen the other.”
Of course I never saw Gaiman and Avary’s Beowulf so I’m not sure what to make of them as a screenwriting team.
Part of me wishes Gaiman would go back to Sandman even though the smarter part of me realizes that 26% of its awesomeness is the fact that it ends.
It will be strangely humorous to see Fincher shed one project after another in the coming months. The man may yet become a genuinely great director, but a prolific one, highly unlikely.
“Of course I never saw Gaiman and Avary’s Beowulf…”
Unless you saw it in IMAX 3-D as I did, you didn’t miss too much.
I love Gaiman as well, but Beowulf was nothing to write home about. A lot of that has to do with Zemeckis and his “MUST TOUCH SHINY THINGS” aesthetic, but the script didn’t blow me away or anything.
Still, sad news here, sad new.
Agreed, the screenplay/story of Beowulf was pretty lacking. Interesting concept, weak execution.
Scripts change so much before the movie is finished, I’d hesitate to lay too much blame on Gaiman….until I read the script anyway.
Just because the dude gives good comic though doesn’t mean he’s cut out for a screenplay I suppose.
Yeah, it’s possible the script was changed quite a bit or Zemeckis simply ignored most of it. Case in point, I’d love to know if Gaiman/Avery’s script had lots of Austin Powers-style visual references to “Beowulf’s naked, but luckily this mug/sword/shield/candlestick” is blocking his member from view.
So. Bad.
This sounds like it could be a great movie opportunity though. Love to see Cronenberg take a trip back down body horror lane with something like this, but that’s probably too on-the-nose for him.
Ooh, Cronenberg! I like that suggestion, though you’re probably right about it being too on the nose. By the way, anyone know what Cronenberg’s up to next? Nothing yet on IMDB.
He’s attached to direct a remake of a Spanish movie called Timecrimes and isnt he also rumored to be doing Matarese Circle? The Robert Ludlum novel?
***balatant whorage warning****
Stay tuned for an LiC review of the original Timecrimes…
***End blatant whorage****
What Craig said.