Live action Heavy Metal adaptation Directors!

That's right, the live action, David Fincher lead adaptation of Heavy Metal just had some director's names dropped. And let me tell you, these are some impressive names. But before we get to that (don't you hate when bloggers do that to you?) lets talk about the Ben Button drama. According to Heavy Metal publisher (and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator) Kevin Eastman, the project has moved from Paramount to Sony because "they were at odds with Fincher over another project, 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,' they wanted him to reduce the running time... and so they said, 'Until you step up to do what we want you to do with Benjamin, we're not going to green light any other of [your] movies.' And David said, 'Fine, fuck you, I'm going to set up [Heavy Metal] somewhere else." If anyone has been following this (and this should be a sufficient answer to the post I made a few weeks ago requesting more information from Peter Sciretta about the behind the scenes goings ons), Paramount really wants Fincher to reduce his 3 hour cut of Ben Button significantly. I heard he actually trimmed 15 minutes off for them and they still wanted more, so he said screw em. Thus, no Heavy Metal at Paramount. Jessica Barnes over at cinematical makes a good point in that Paramount probably didn't expect Fincher to call their bluff. Too bad for them!

But now the important news that you read that whole paragraph for (and if you didn't shame on you, I work hard on this stuff), the directors. Eastman has confirmed that Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy, Pan's Labrynth, the upcoming Hobbit adaptation), Zack Snyder (300, Dawn of the Dead remake, and the upcoming Watchmen), and Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Carribean, The Weather Man, The Ring) are all attatched to direct a segment, and Fincher is expected to direct one as well. Apparantly, in contrast to the original animated version, there will be 8-9 segments. Here's hoping for more awesome directors.

Who else is excited as all get out about this!?

Lullaby getting a big-screen adaptation?

This sounds extremely vague, but it's popped up quite a few times over the past week or so, and since he's one of my favorite authors I figured I'd throw up a little somethin-somethin about it. Apparantly, Palahniuk, who is known for fucking with his audience, has been tossing the name of a director he calls "the Swedish David Fincher," Ulfer Jansen. He has no imdb, and all I can find about him on google are other blogs with the exact same Palahniuk quote about him. So who knows if he actually exists or whether he's attatched to the project or not. However, if Chuck P is to be believed, they're already at the casting stage, but the production is keeping said casting from Palahniuk for now.

Now miss Jessica Barnes over at cinematical ponders "don't you think if this was the real deal, Palahniuk would have been told that information?" While I'd normally be inclined to agree, I've read numerous interviews with him where he talks very candidly about Hollywood, and what it's like selling your work to them. In most cases with his properties, he has to sell the whole thing away to someone else to get it made, so it's entirely possible that he really has no idea who they're casting or when the start of production is.

Count me in on this if it's actually happening though. It seems like there are few people who agree with me, but having read all of Chuck's books except his most recent three, Lullaby is my favorite. It's some of his best writing, and I love how fantastical this story gets as it goes. He grounds it in a believable real world in the beginning, so that by the end you're totally with him when crazy, otherworldly shit starts going down. Hopefully whoever ends up directing this thing can acheive the same.

Anyone else excited? Does anyone else even like this book?

An Open Call to /film

UPDATE: I was listening to the Afterdark /filmcast last night and none other than Mr. Peter Sciretta was on. Just as I was nodding off to sleep he began to discuss Ben Button. However, I nodded off to sleep literally as I heard him begin talking about it, and I remember thinking "You should stay awake for this so you can update the blog." I recall no further information. Thus I will have to wait until Dave Chen puts it online (which usually isn't until the end of the week) to update you on whether Peter pulls through with some answers.

I've got two things I wanna say to you. And one is pretty important. I follow you guys on Twitter, and Mr. Peter Sciretta, I want you to do your job! You are a great writer, and I really respect the fact that you stand out amongst your peers by holding strong opinions and sticking to your guns, even on the /filmcast. But the other day I saw a little Twitter convo happen between you and Erik Davis over at cinematical in which you discussed "what's going on behind the scenes of Benjamin Button," David Fincher's latest film. You ask Erik why no one is willing to talk about it, and Erik responds "because if we pretend mom and dad aren't fighting, maybe it will be true," and it is left at that. Then, today on /film, you posted the TV spot for Ben Button that premiered during the Olympics. After the trailer you said "I’ve been hearing all sorts of troubling things coming out of the post production of the project. Most movie journalists are afraid to report on what is going on behid the scenes, because it’s very gossipy." But then you never man up and report on it yourself. What is going on? As a journalist I thought you guys had journalistic duties. Just like the mailman, you know? Through the rain, sleet, and snow kinda stuff? No? Dammit, c'mon man I'm dying to know what's going on! If everyone already knows about it, why don't you quit bein a pussy and man up! You finish your article with "There is a bigger story going on behind the scenes…" What the hell is that? Why even report on it in the first place if you're just gonna back down and never go anywhere with it?

I still love you.

But there's another thing. Mr. David-Peter Chen! Let me be on the /filmcast! I love the /filmcast, and I was just gonna pussyfoot around trying to find a way to get connected to you, but I'm too eager! I'm gonna put a post up once a week about being on the show until you let me on! The journey begins now!