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DAVID FINCHER TO DIRECT TORSO
by Newsarama
It looks as if Torso’s five-plus year journey from comics to Hollywood is finally nearing an end, as it was reported by the trades today that David (Seven, Fight Club, Panic Room) Fincher will direct the film version of the Brian Bendis/Marc Andreyko comic miniseries for Paramount.
Originally, Dimension acquired the film rights for the story in 2000, when Bendis was writing Sam & Twitch for McFarlane. As Bendis recounted in his Fortune and Glory miniseries, it was McFarlane who got the Hollywood ball rolling on the film version of the story, optioning the property from Bendis and Andreyko, and initially selling it to Miramax.
The story recounts the true tale of the post-Untouchables Eliot Ness, who moved to Cleveland after seeing Al Capone brought to justice in Chicago. In Cleveland, as the city’s public safety officer, Ness’ biggest – and unsolved – case centered on the “Torso Killer,” a serial killer who, after killing his victims, cut off their head, arms, and legs. As the torsos began to appear in the waters around Cleveland, Ness began to receive mail from the killer, taunting him. Despite investigating with a team of ex-police officers, Ness never apprehended the killer.
Then set up at Miramax’s Dimension division, the film version of the miniseries was to be written by Bendis and Andreyko. The two wrote the first draft of the screenplay, producer Don Murphy came aboard to help move things along; however, the film languished for years.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, it was Murphy who went to Pandemonium’s Bill Mechanic, who then brought Fincher to the project. This version of the film series will start from scratch, as Ehren (The Ring) Kruger will write the adaptation of the story as soon as Paramount gives it the green light.
The film will be produced by Mechanic, Murphy, McFarlane and Terry Fitzgerald, with Alli Shearmur and Marc Evans overseeing the film for Paramount. Fincher is currently filming Zodiac (coincidentally, about the Zodiac serial killer), and is expected to film the previously set up Benjamin Button before starting work on Toroso.
Asked for his response to the news and his current involvement with the project, Brian Bendis told Newsarama:
“I don't think the details of any of this are that interesting,” Bendis wrote, “but we had first set this up at Miramax where mark and I wrote a draft. We had a great time doing that. There was some struggle as to what type of movie Miramax wanted to make from it. They were doing a lot of inexpensive thrillers at the time. Dracula 2000, etc and we all thought Torso should be something on the level of a LA Confidential, The Untouchables, or Seven. A big epic directed by someone... just like David Fincher.
“We got Torso back but Miramax kept our script which was really a bummer, but they bought it and they can do whatever they see fit. That's the way it goes in Hollywood. The amazing part is that Bill Mechanic's company jumped in and David Fincher showed interest and all the other pieces fell into place.
“I can't tell you enough how well Marc Andreyko and our manager David Engel and lawyer Shep Rosenmen handled all of this out there in LA. So, though there are many steps to go before a movie starts getting made, this is absolutely the kind of movie I had always hoped in my dream of dreams that Torso might be. But, man, never did I think it could get anywhere near this close. David Fincher, like many of us, is one of my favorite directors and the Fight Club DVD extras are inspiring.
“Torso was two years of my life, years of research and drawing, and it did get me my first work at Marvel. That and Jinx got me Daredevil and it got Marc's excellent book Manhunter. If any of this makes you feel like picking up the collection from Image comics... go with that feeling…
“As for Jinx at Universal i am just a week away from completing my first draft, so fingers crossed. But it felt good.
“And no, I am not leaving comics. Sorry avengers fans comics are the best medium for storytelling in the world and I am lucky to work on the best characters ever created. Trust me, nothing beats comics or the people that make them.”
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