Roger Avery and Neil Gaiman, the writers of “Beowulf,” spent two years on their script and subsequent rewrites for their adaptation of Charles Burn’s horrifying graphic novel “Black Hole” for David Fincher, but have finally announced that they are no longer attached to it, citing Fincher’s excessive process which “consisted of having over ten drafts, done over and over” and wanting to take the story on a slightly different direction as their reason for departing, in an interview with Gaiman for MTV (Fincher’s kind of a fastidious s.o.b.). Although Fincher is still in possession of their screenplay, Burns has told Shock that it is probably not going to be used, and an unnamed writer has been hired by Fincher. “Black Hole” is set in the 1970s and revolves around a bunch of teens who contract “the Bug,” an incurable sexually transmitted disease that causes physical deformities and are alienated socially because of it.
Alexandre Aja was originally onboard to direct, admittedly an average slasher director and certainly below the material written by Burns, except when Fincher stepped onto the scene, the entire ballgame changed. It’s no secret that Fincher is one of the more demanding directors out there, but if you think about the level of excellence he consistently delivers, film after film, would viewers want it any other way? “I just hope whatever happens, it’s faithful to ‘Black Hole.’” Gaiman said, and something tells me Fincher will do it as much justice as necessary, and perhaps take it even further. – from our friends at Fataculture.
Fincher level of exellence??? the same guy who ruined Alien 3, did the abzurd The Game and the overelaborated Panic Room, please!
heh, i liked most of The Game, but i haven’t seen it in ages, but Mr. Anonymous has a point. Zodiac was zzz… and he’s basically right about the others.
I’m excited either way seeing Gaiman and Fincher’s names attached (in any shape or form). I hope more non-genre comic adaptations like this come down the pipeline. Some of Dan Clowes crazy stuff could be interesting to see onscreen.
Damn, I thought Zodiac movie was second only to Assassination of Jesse James…for the best movie of 2007. The problem with Fincher getting involved is that the project is almost sure to never happen, or at least happen in any form that resembled what he would do with the material. This guy has abandoned almost as many projects as David Gordon Green has proposed. Still a great filmmaker, just wish he had more follow through…
Like all good directors and especially one that tends to favor difficult-to-sell/market pictures, Fincher likes to have many irons going in the stove. So he develops five things at once knowing the chances of getting any one of those films made is slim and then when one is ready and green-lit, he jumps on it and moves forward. Some he can save for later, some will just have to go by the wayside. That’s the way it works. Better to have potential projects on the go and keep working then to have none at all. I don’t think it’s a follow-through thing.
I think David Gordon Green does the same thing. Someone pays him to write and develop a script, he does and when that’s done and there’s no money on the table he takes another gig. He’s very aware that projects dry up, so take what you can get and make as movies as you can while you can.
Yeah, I’m aware of how it works, but Fincher seems to jump ship on more projects than a lot of directors. That also may be because Fincher’s potential projects get publicized more than other directors for whatever reason. I didn’t mean to criticize him for it–he’s probably smart to jump ship on some of these projects, as the films that he left during pre-production usually ended up sucking in the hands of another director (like The Black Dahlia, Lords of Dogtown, MI: 3). I’m guessing he smelled trouble in the scripting stages/pre-production of all those projects. I’m sure if there’s anything he learned from Alien 3 it’s that he wants to have all the kinks worked out before filming begins.