Cinematical

Say what you will about David Fincher's work, but I've been with him the whole way. Yeah, I even liked Alien³, at least at the time. Okay, I have to admit a lot of my attraction to Fincher's movies is actually to the cinematography of Darius Khondji and Harris Savides (now that I look back, I'm surprised to see they only shot two Fincher titles each). But hey, at least the guy can pick a DP, right? Well, I do appreciate Fincher's directorial talents, as well, and regardless of how few films I've seen this year, I continue to consider his Zodiac to be the best of the year. Fincher recently wrapped his next feature, The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons, which reunites him with Brad Pitt. Now that that's done, he may choose to direct an adaptation of a French graphic novel titled Le Tueur (The Killer). According to Variety, Paramount has bought the rights to the comic, written by Matz and illustrated by Luc Jacamon, with Fincher in mind. Producer Allesandro Camon (American Psycho) is writing the screenplay, and Pitt's company, Plan B, and Alexandra Milchan (Chapter 27) are producing.

Despite the need for a title change, and the fact that we have too many hitman movies coming out these days, the graphic novel should make for an interesting adaptation. Publisher's Weekly compared it to the films of Godard and Melville and the illustrations of Darwyn Cooke and even addressed Jacamon's placement of the camera (maybe Fincher should recruit him to be the film's DP). So, it already sounds like a cinematic story. Unfortunately, PW also claims there's too much "self-consciously cool narration," which can really ruin this type of pic. Another opinion of The Killer, this one from The Comic Book Bin, relates the graphic novel to American Psycho (nice, then, for Camon's involvement) and Leone/Eastwood westerns. Dark antihero with a gun? We see them every day. But with Fincher at the helm, I have higher hopes than usual.