Sunday
07Dec2008
Fincher-Damon 'Torso' Takes One to the Body
Sunday, December 7, 2008 at 3:25AM 
One of the more promising pairings we've heard about in
recent months is director
David Fincher and
Matt Damon.
The project is an adaptation of
Torso, a "true crime graphic novel"
released back in 1998. It's about a string of murders attributed to The Torso
Murderer in Cleveland during the 1930s. I don't think I need to explain the
name, do I?The investigator on the case was Elliot Ness, likely the only FBI agent you can name. And perhaps because it plays better, the name of the movie had been reportedly changed from Torso to Ness. In the film, Ness would be played by Matt Damon, and Casey Affleck had also agreed to come on board, and Rachel McAdams was hovering.
The last time we talked about this movie was in relation to the production moving from Ohio to Michigan because of tax incentives. And now it may not be moving anywhere but off the table. But Paramount, which has worked with David Fincher before and has the director's Curious Case of Benjamin Button due out this month, has a drop dead date of either this past Friday or next Friday, depending on which source you go to. A movie with that talent on board and the studio hasn't given it the green light? As the kids say, WTF?
Hollywood Elsewhere hears that Paramount is so high on a proposed comedy about a chef starring Keanu Reeves that the studio wants Fincher to do that next, regardless of what happens to Torso.
So let's see: Great crime movie with Matt Damon, directed by a guy who will likely get his first Best Director nomination this year and who also has made two of the three best serial killer movies in the past 20 years, and the studio is actually considering relinquishing the rights to it altogether to do a movie about a chef?
Ratatouille envy, perhaps?
In truth, the script about the chef was on Hollywood's black list of screenplays that everyone loved and had to read but wasn't yet in the production pipeline. It's about a great chef (they don't make movies about mediocre chefs) who has to put his life and kitchen back together after major personal issues.
Yeah. Bowled over by that I am not.
Reader Comments (1)
sounds good, great cast too. if paramount dont want to make it im sure another studio will pick up the rights, esp considering how 'hot' fincher will be in the next few months.