Big news just down the line that David Fincher has signed on to direct a film adaptation of Charles Burns' Black Hole as scripted by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary. For those unfamiliar, Burns' graphic novel is a 1970's teen drug fueled tale revolving around a sexually transmitted bug that triggers bizarre mutations in its carriers. Get laid, grow a tale. It'll be a difficult story to get made intact in the post-Columbine world but Fincher's the guy to do it, someone with enough critical and commercial clout - not to mention a record of making difficult material work - to push it through the studio system and also enough formal skill to bring Burns' very distinctive world to the big screen. The script? I may or may not have read it and it may or may not be bloody fantastic.
I used to love Gaiman and now have absolutely no faith in the man.
American Gods had a terrible ending, Endless Nights was just a bunch of scrapped ideas and the less said about Beowulf, the better.
Good news otherwise. I'm a big fan of Black Hole.
i find neil gaiman a little overrated. the real deal for me has always been Alan Moore.
and another thing: so far, gaiman + film = boring. so, i would have had zero faith in this if not for Fincher.
Gaiman peaked with Sandman. Nothing he's done outside of comics has really worked out as far as I'm concerned, especially the movies. At least if he's just adapting other people's work he probably can't manage to keep rehashing the same things he's been doing over and over since he wrapped Sandman.
How is Black Hole anyway? It's been on my list of things to get around to reading at some point since I first heard of it.
Forget about Gaiman, Avary is the real stinker here, that guy is one lousy writter.
This is the best news I've heard all day. Last weekend I read BLACK HOLE for the second time. It is one of my favorite graphic novels. I heard Alexandre Aja (High Tension) was originally supposed to direct it and I was worried but this sounds way better. As like as Avary doesn't stick too close to the material like he did with Silent Hill (loved it but it was too much like the game, even with some lame dialog) then hopefully it should be good. Wow I'm so excited.
Now then, now then!
What's with the sudden Gaiman bashing? No-one translates Ghibli like Neil Gaiman! :cheese:
As for his other exploits: I think it's difficult to translate Gaiman's "taste" to the screen. His work always feels slightly off-kilter, and almost unfocused.
Sandman and Death are sublime though, and I like a lot of his other work as well.
All you had to say was new Fincher!
There hasn't been much news re: Avary's auto accident since it happened. Wonder how, if at all, it will impact projects like this.
I rather enjoyed Gaiman's Mirrormask quite a bit. (My wife loved Stardust, heh). I love almost every Fincher movie and looking forward to his Fitzgerald adaptation of The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.... so this news sounds great to me!!
Holy Cronenberg batman!
Black Hole adaptation doesn't immediately cause a negative reaction in my brain!
It is a comic that will always stand alone as a brilliant and powerful piece of work, but also has enough haziness to it that in the right hands it could be reinterpreted very nicely as well.
I think Fincher could do something very good with this. Gaiman, as people have said, hasn't had a good record on film, but I still hold out hope, and with Fincher there to ground his ideas it could work. I'll just ignore that Avary is on it. That guy's work has never done anything for me.
you "may or may not have" read the script? THAT MEANS YOU HAVE! sweet... where'd u get it? give.
Hee hee ...