Steve Buscemi To Direct An Adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ ‘Queer’ Written by ‘The Messenger’ Scribe Oren Moverman

Reuniting the core ‘Messenger’ group would be amazing. That trio made a fantastic team and that film was a powerful one, one we loved and one that was far too underrated in 2009. And it’s apparently not the only thing that Moverman is working on.

Evidently, the writer/director — who penned a screenplay for Todd Hayne’s “I’m Not There” and “Jesus’ Son” to name a few — is working on an adaptation of William S. Burroughs‘ “Queer” and staged a test-drive reading of the screenplay very recently at the Sarasota Film Festival (via /Film).

Apparently, Moverman wrote it as a project to be directed and produced by his actor friend Steve Buscemi (who did him a solid and made a moving cameo role in “The Messenger”). Stanley Tucci, Ben Foster, John Ventimiglia and Lisa Joyce were all part of the reading. Presumably Buscemi wants them to star in the picture as well? We’re all for it. Tucci and Foster are obviously amazing.

If and when it finds funding, and gets made it will be Buscemi’s fifth feature-length directorial effort and we’re personally quite fond of “Tree‘s Lounge” and “Interview.” What’s “Queer” about? Well it’s the sort of spiritual sequel to “Junkie” and not very plot-driven and very much like commentary on characters found in the urban underclass of drug addiction. Evidently the genesis of the novel came from the infamous incident when Burroughs accidentally shot and killed his wife Joan. From Amazon:

Stylistically similar to Junky , it claims the same protagonist, Lee, who in this work is experiencing a period of intense withdrawal from heroin. He is disintegrated, unsure of himself and his purpose, given to emotional excess. He is obsessed with sex, yet even more craves attention. To satisfy this craving he invents rather frantic “routines” designed to shock and amuse his companions. While Queer may seem tame in comparison to Burroughs’s later work, it is important for the insight it offers about his development as a writer.

Moverman of course may or may not direct the upcoming Universal/ Courtney Love-sanctioned biopic of Nirvana frontman, Kurt Cobain based on the Charles R. Cross’ 2001 biography “Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain.” It seems like that one is still up in the air and with the news of “Rampart” maybe its falling by the wayside? Time will tell.

What else does he have cooking? Well, he also penned “Interrupted” about legendary director Nicholas Ray, that Phillip Kaufman (“Henry & June,” “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” “The Right Stuff”) is supposed to direct, but that project was announced in 2006 and still hasn’t shot. Speaking of Ray, if you’re a fan (and lord, you should have your cinephile pass revoked if you’re not), a restored version of his little-seen 1976 experimental picture “We Can’t Go Home Again” will be shown at the 68th Venice film festival in 2011 (yes, 2011, now run out and buy Criterion’s recently released “Bigger Than Life” and witness the genius of Ray and James Mason).

Ok, back to the topic at hand. What’s up with Moverman’s “This Side of the Looking Glass,” a New York City drama about an aging writer rumored to star Ian Holm and Donald Sutherland among others? In November of last year when asked about the project by IonCinema he said, “I’m not sure. It’s a version of the first script I wrote and it may or may not come back to life.” We”ll take that as a maybe and if/when funding comes along, but as we all know funding doesn’t grow on trees.

Let’s hope all these projects happen sooner rather than lately. And if anyone has any development info on “Interrupted” we’re all ears.