Aside from probably being the best Bret Easton Ellis adaptation to date, Mary Harron’s AMERICAN PSYCHO remains novel and relevant for its thoroughly feminist perspective on the American Male, particularly within the microcosm of the “Masters of the Universe” of 1980’s Wall Street.
So when I hear that its director and screenwriter are reteaming for a flick about the Manson Family murders, I perk up like I’ve got a Friday night res at Dorsia.
Guinevere Turner’s script is called THE FAMILY (though that title could change, since that De Niro-Pfeiffer movie just came out), and is based on an Ed Sanders novel of the same name and Karlene Faith’s The Long Prison Journey of Leslie van Houten. The movie will portray Faith’s interviews with Van Houten and two other imprisoned Manson Family members as they were serving their life sentences.
It seems like this is coming together quickly, with casting already in progress and a summer shoot date, so we should hear about who’s playing Faith, Van Houten, and, if he’s to be portrayed in flashbacks, Charlie himself fairly soon. The murders are among the most notorious and well-remembered crimes of the second half of the 20th century, and it’s easy to see what would attract Turner and Harron to the sick, bloody story. They’re certainly not afraid to push the boundaries of good taste, so let’s see how far they’re willing to go with the story of the nine murders that occurred in the summer of ’69.
It should be mentioned that Harron and Turner also teamed up for THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE back in ’05, but this seems more along the lines of AMERICAN PSYCHO, and I can’t wait to see them tackle another murderous madman within a period setting.
