Hey, everyone. “Moriarty” here.
Adapting Chuck Palahniuk is a tricky prospect. Many have tried and failed. I haven’t seen CHOKE yet, but I am an avid fan of FIGHT CLUB. I think he writes books that offer great opportunities to a filmmaker, even when they’re not great, but his best books could make amazing movies. He sets a very full table for anyone trying to write an adaptation. He’s like John Irving in that way. His books require two hands and then some. HAUNTED is a very rich, very well crafted entry from him, and there have been rumors of it being made before now. Finally, we’ve got more than a rumor, and I’m not just interested in this film... I’m officially dying to see it starting right now.
Why? Because Koen Mortier is now signed to write and direct the film version of HAUNTED. And Koen Mortier is a psychopath with a deadly eye, a neo-Kubrickian in the school of most of the Propaganda graduates and music video craftsmen who make up the A-list these days. He’s meaner than Gaspar Noe. He’s funnier than Danny Boyle. He’s dirtier than David Fincher. I’ve actually got my review of his first feature, EX DRUMMER, going up later today.
And while I’m just recently converted to Mortier’s fan club, I’m on record for quite a while now as a big fan of the work of John and Drew Dowdle. I’m glad QUARANTINE is going to put some money into the pockets over at Screen Gems. It makes them more bankable. It’s a fun film, even if it is a genuinely unnecessary remake. They did exactly what they were hired to do, and they did it well. It may have been the thing that got them this new job that’s being announced, that they’re going to be the first writer/directors involved in NIGHT CHRONICLES, a series of branded motion pictures where someone will work from a new premise by M. Night, and he’ll produce, but they’re writing and directing.
In other words, this is him making the shift from working writer/director to Rod Serling/Alfred Hitchcock/Walt Disney/Steven Spielberg, branding his name onto a style of entertainment so that it’s about an overall flavor that is recognizably and definably his. I think Rod Serling is absolutely the biggest influence on the way Shyamalan writes, and I mean that as a compliment. I’ve definitely not liked everything he’s done over the years, but I remain resolutely interested in him. I like this as a choice for him, and I’m thrilled that he’s picked the Dowdles as the guys to kick off the series. I hope he gives them a great place to start and the environment to make an original movie with a certain amount of freedom. If so, I’m willing to bet that all the promise they’ve shown so far in their films is going to finally be cut loose.
The NIGHT CHRONICLES announcement came courtesy of Bloody Disgusting,, and the HAUNTED news was announced in the trades.
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
