@ jeffreyrbunch

Jess Walter, Wikipedia image

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.”

Jess Walter, "The Zero" and "The Financial Lives of the Poets" (images from www.jesswalter.com)

On my last post, I wanted to mention another connection to Ground Zero and the events of 9/11 which I felt, vicariously through a friend of mine.  If you haven’t heard of Edgar Award-winning author Jess Walter, you should check him out. Jess is from Spokane, Washington, and is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.

Jess was a top-notch reporter at The Spokesman-Review newspaper, where he had a chance to cover the Ruby Ridge standoff between Randy Weaver and the federal agents. Jess is a longtime friend of mine and we worked together for years.  Jess wrote a book about the Ruby Ridge standoff, it was excerpted in Newsweek, then made into a TV movie starring Randy Quaid.

Jess’ next few gigs involved ghost-writing autobiographies for Christopher Darden and a couple of other well-known people.  He then got to publish novels “Land of the Blind,” “Over Tumbled Graves,” “Citizen Vince,” and “The Zero” (a National Book Award Finalist).  Citizen Vince is waiting in the Hollywood pipeline to be produced after award-winning writer Richard Russo adapted it as a screenplay.  Jess is also working on another film project, “Born to Rock,” with David Duchovny and Tea Leoni as producers.

Jess is not only an incredibly gifted and witty writer but he’s also a great guy.  He still lives in Spokane and is still making a living as a writer.  He will be on his current book tour after its kickoff on Sept. 23rd in Spokane at Aunties Bookstore.  He will also be coming to my adopted hometown of Portland, Ore. to Powell’s Books twice in October (Oct. 7 for the Portland Noir collection – to which he is a contributor – and Oct. 29 for his new book).

So, what connection does Jess create for me with 9/11? Jess was there just a week or so after that unfortunate day for meetings and recounted the horror of what was still present as the recovery effort continued and New Yorkers (and the nation) wandered around in a state of shock.  He spent a lot more time there afterward. Thus, his book “The Zero” is set in the post-9/11 New York environment.  Then, as my wife and I honeymooned in NYC, fate brought Jess to us for his reading of “The Zero” in Manhattan.  We were able to be in the audience, along with some reflective New York residents, as the fifth anniversary of 9/11 loomed.  In looking into the eyes of a couple of policemen on hand, I could only imagine what they had seen and how they couldn’t forget it.

For more information on Jess Walter and his works, including the upcoming book “The Financial Lives of the Poets,” check out jesswalter.com.   Here is an interview he did recently with Publishers Weekly.  The books is only currently available, as a preorder, through Amazon.com.  Support your independent booksellers, though.