I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence looks likely next in the director's chair to adapat a Chuck Palahniuck novel. 'Survivor' which is a satire of commercial culture will be the latest adaption.
It is the story of Tender Branson, a member of the Creedish Church, a death cult. In it, every member learns how to be a servant for the human race—most of them are butlers and maids—and fear most human pleasures. They await a sign from God to tell them to deliver themselves unto Him; that is, they must commit suicide. The sign finally comes, and a good ten years later, Tender becomes the last surviving member of the cult. He is thrown into mainstream culture and becomes a personal icon for many people.
Twentieth Century Fox initially planned to bring the book to the screen in 1999, but shelved the project following the September 11 attacks. The novel opens with an airplane hijacker telling his life story to a black box recorder.
Palahniuk explained: "David Fincher (director of Fight Club) was really pushing [Fox] in their development and they'd gotten Jake Paltrow - Gwyneth's brother - to write a screenplay and people were very happy with that.
"They'd started to cast it but then 9/11 happened and that seemed to harpoon all kinds of transgressive comedies."
The author confirmed that Lawrence will make the adaptation "this year or early next year".
"[He] has the option, he's written the screenplay and has said several times that it's going to be his project after I Am Legend," he said.
Despite the popularity of his novels with Hollywood producers, Palahniuk told DS that he wants his latest novel Snuff, about a porn actress attempting to sleep with 600 men in one day, to be remade for the theatre.
"I kind of wrote Snuff with the idea that it might eventually be a stage play," he said. "By keeping the number of settings and the number of characters really limited, it seemed like the situation would be perfect for a play."
