There is great news for Jess Walter and fans of his writing. It appears that the movie production of his book “The Zero” has been given new life, according to an exclusive blog post out of Cannes by Steven Zeitchik (@ZeitchikLAT) on LATimes.com.
I think the style of “The Zero” will make a great movie; it’s unique voice is very visual and should adapt well to the screen. The analogy to Charlie Kaufman in the Los Angeles Times piece is fitting. I could definitely see it in the genre of Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York,” which was one of the most edgy and mind-expanding movies I’ve seen in years.
The LATimes.com post says the screenplay for “The Zero” was written by Brandon Boyce. Boyce adapted Steven King’s “Apt Pupil” for the screen and also wrote the screenplay for “Wicker Park”. He would seem to be a good candidate to tackle Jess Walter’s strobe-like creative style in the book set against the backdrop of 9/11. Zeitchik says Derrick Borte (“The Joneses“) will direct.
Jess Walter’s most recent book (which I wrote about earlier), “The Financial Lives of the Poets” would also make a great movie. That manages to weave an unpredictable, compelling story of redemption while skewering a few architects of the fall of the financial markets (and newspapers) at the same time.
Let’s hope Jess Walter’s “Citizen Vince” also gets produced. I hear a Richard Russo (“Empire Falls”) screenplay has been ready to go for that book for some time. Walter has a great command of the language, a laugh-out-loud sarcastic wit, and a keen insight into the follies of our modern humanity. Here is an excerpt from the LATimes.com piece:
“The Zero” is about a policeman named Brian Remy who, suffering from head trauma in the wake of 9/11, leads tours of ground zero while also beginning a Kafkaesque search for a mysterious character named March Selios. Sept. 11 is never mentioned specifically, but it’s clear what Walter is referencing, and in addition to a general tone of subversive and oddball wit, Walter’s book weighs in with some sly commentary about the marketing of tragedy.
There is also a post up today on HuffingtonPost.com with Calvert Morgan, Walter’s editor, about Harper Perennial’s Role in the Current Resurgence in American Fiction. In the interview, Morgan says about Walter’s latest book, “Jess’s novel The Financial Lives of the Poets is the most current and moving snapshot of our culture right now that I’ve read in the past couple of years.”
