Eliot Ness Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Paramount Lets Rights to David Fincher's 'Torso' Lapse
Filed under: Action », Drama », Thrillers », Deals », Mystery & Suspense », Paramount », Scripts », DIY/Filmmaking », Newsstand », Comic/Superhero/Geek »
David Fincher must be feeling on top of the world right now, what with 13 Oscar nominations for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a successful box office haul. Yet that's not the kind of credibility that can get your next movie made in Hollywood. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount has let the rights to Brian Michael Bendis' Torso lapse, leaving the project in limbo. "It's a weird and odd situation," Bendis said. "We heard it was greenlit one day, then the next we heard it wasn't. Hopefully, it'll have a happy ending."Paramount has had the rights since 2006, and hired Ehren Kruger to adapt the book. But last month, part of the original rights deal expired and Paramount declined renewing them, and buying them outright. The studio still owns the Kruger screenplay, and is in negotiations to strike a new option agreement with Bendis and Marc Andreyko, to whom the rights reverted. Fincher is still attached as director, though one who is sans screenplay.
It is a very weird situation -- the project has A-List all over it. Not only does it have Fincher directing, but it attracted interest from Matt Damon and Casey Affleck. While based on a graphic novel, it's not superhero stuff, but the true story of Eliot Ness and the Torso Murderer. Considering everyone has been desperate for a sequel to The Untouchables for years, you'd think this was a slam dunk ... but apparently nothing is during these economic times. But as everyone in their right mind wants to see this done, I hope Paramount makes its mind up to stake a claim or let it pass on to another studio.
A little more on Torso
Filed under: Action », Drama », Thrillers », Casting », Noir », Mystery & Suspense », RumorMonger », Newsstand », Comic/Superhero/Geek »
Like a lot of other people, we were pretty dern
excited to hear the news last week that David Fincher was going to undertake a screen version of Torso,
a graphic novel about Eliot Ness battling a killer in Cleveland. Though it's going to be a while before this one hits
the screen, IESB sat down with producer Todd McFarlane and managed
to get a few new details out of him.- Though Torso takes place after that whole capturing Capone thing, Ness is still in his mid-30s when he goes to Cleveland, so the ideal actor for the role is younger than we might expect. McFarlane says that a vague "they" are leaning towards Matt Damon for the role, and also mentions Leonardo DiCaprio as someone who "sort of fits [the] bill."
- Fincher's original thought (before the release and success of Sin City) was that the film would be shot in black and white.
- As far as a timeline goes, McFarlane hopes that the script will be done (meaning all the rewrites and drafts) by the time Fincher finished Zodiac. That way, if Benjamin Button (the director's next scheduled project) stalls in preproduction, Torso will be ready to go.
- McFarlane hems and haws a lot about the film's fidelity to the graphic novel, but in the end it sounds possible that only the main points of the story will be the same. (No kidding. Seeing as how it's a true story, that's not much of a shock.)
- Assuming a big star is landed to play Ness, the budget will be at least $65 million.
Fincher's Torso
Filed under: Action », Drama », Deals », Paramount », Newsstand »
When he finishes Zodiac (currently filming, with Jake Gyllenhaal) and Benjamin Button (currently in development) for Paramount, David Fincher will continue to hang around the studio, this time
directing a screen version of Torso, a graphic novel that details Elliot Ness' post-Capone
stint as Cleveland's public safety officer. Torso was cowritten by Brian
Michael Bendis, who has since gone on to a very successful mainstream comic career in such series as
Daredevil and Ultimate Spider-Man.The novel's story is a fascinating one - and it's true, too. While Ness was working in Cleveland, torsos started showing up in the city's river and, at the same time, Ness began to get taunting letters from the killer. Despite his total lack of background in police work, the former treasury agent was able to put together a team to track down and arrest the man. The screenplay is being adapted by Ehren Kruger, and Todd McFarlane (who originally option the property) is among the producers.
Needless to say, it'll be ages before we see anything from this one, but it sounds like an incredible story. Have any of you read the graphic novel? What's the visual style like?
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