Chuck Palahniuk's "Choke"

[War Party]

Just as "Fight Club" author Chuck Palahniuk's new book "Rant" hit stores, word comes via his official site that the film version of his earlier work "Choke" is finally on the way.

Paul Bernbaum ("Hollywoodland," "Next") had previously been attached to adapt the work, but now the author has revealed that Clark Gregg ("What Lies Beneath") has not only finished the screenplay but will be making his directorial debut with this movie which begins production next month - June 18th to be precise.

Sam Rockwell stars as Victor Mancini, a sex addict and con artist who pretends to choke on food in restaurants in order to receive sympathy cheques from the people who help save him. Glenn Close, Annette Benning or Julianne Moore are being sought for the mother role.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news07/070502l.php

I really enjoyed this book, so here's hoping for a quality film.

 

[Mr. Credible]

wow... i had no idea this movie was so far into production. i can't wait! i loved the book, definately one of my favorites of palahniuk's.

rockwell is a pretty good choice, actually. i hope this is similar in tone to fight club, as far as dark humor goes, and i hope they don't make too many changes to the story.

 

[cyborg ninja 14]

Holy ****! Rockwell is an excellent choice for this role.

 

[War Party]

Since this is Clark Gregg's first film, has he done anything else before like TV? Has anyone seen anything by him?

 

[Dope Nose]

what ever happened to the Invisible Monsters adaptation?

 

[Cinemaman]

Sounds nice, but I need to see trailer (I doubt it will come soon) to make sure that it won't fail after such masterpiece as Fight Club.

 

[War Party]

Sounds nice, but I need to see trailer (I doubt it will come soon) to make sure that it won't fail after such masterpiece as Fight Club.

Well, it's a completely different story than Fight Club. So don't expect a film similar to Fight Club. And it's a different director, so there is an obvious style difference.

 

[Cinemaman]

^^^

Yeah I know, but if director does a great job, then I will be fine with it

 

[Caliber]

Interesting story idea, hope it makes for a good movie. Rockwell is a great actor.

 

[Hunter Rider]

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=21964

Rockwell & Huston in Choke Adaption
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
July 12, 2007


Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston are starring in Choke, an adaptation of a Chuck Palahniuk novel that marks the directorial debut of actor Clark Gregg ("The New Adventures of Old Christine"), who also wrote the adaptation.

The Hollywood Reporter says Kelly Macdonald (No Country for Old Men) and Brad Henke (In the Valley of Elah) also star.

Choke, published in 2001, was the first New York Times best-seller from Palahniuk, who wrote Fight Club.

Choke is a black comedy that follows Victor Mancini (Rockwell), a sex addict who works as a Colonial War re-enactor and runs a con scheme that involves deliberately choking in restaurants and attaching himself parasitically to his rescuers, all to fund his mother's (Huston) care at a private mental hospital.

He is forced to address his intimacy issues when he falls in love with his mother's doctor and discovers that he is unable to perform with the one woman he actually likes.

"It's a tricky adaptation because like a lot of Chuck's work, it operates in a heightened satirical, dark world, yet this one is one of his black romantic comedies, so getting the tone right took me some time," Gregg said.

Principal photography begins this week in New Jersey.

 

[Donnie Darko]

I cannot wait... this is going to be awesome... now, if only we could get the ball rolling on Invisible Monsters or Survivor

 

[Dark Donnie]

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=21964

Rockwell & Huston in Choke Adaption
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
July 12, 2007


Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston are starring in Choke, an adaptation of a Chuck Palahniuk novel that marks the directorial debut of actor Clark Gregg ("The New Adventures of Old Christine"), who also wrote the adaptation.

The Hollywood Reporter says Kelly Macdonald (No Country for Old Men) and Brad Henke (In the Valley of Elah) also star.

Choke, published in 2001, was the first New York Times best-seller from Palahniuk, who wrote Fight Club.

Choke is a black comedy that follows Victor Mancini (Rockwell), a sex addict who works as a Colonial War re-enactor and runs a con scheme that involves deliberately choking in restaurants and attaching himself parasitically to his rescuers, all to fund his mother's (Huston) care at a private mental hospital.

He is forced to address his intimacy issues when he falls in love with his mother's doctor and discovers that he is unable to perform with the one woman he actually likes.

"It's a tricky adaptation because like a lot of Chuck's work, it operates in a heightened satirical, dark world, yet this one is one of his black romantic comedies, so getting the tone right took me some time," Gregg said.

Principal photography begins this week in New Jersey.

Great cast thus far....Principal Photography is already beginning??? Kinda quick no?

 

[Rez]

I can't believe how under the radar this has been. This is definately Palahniuk's best work, although my personal favourite is Survivor. Bring on the hardcore sex and anal beads!

 

[chamber-music]

What ever happened to Fox adaptation of Invisable monsters?

 

[Carmine Falcone]

This sounds ****ed up. I'm interested.

 

[Mr. Edward Hyde]

Choke as a movie? I don't know.

 

[War Party]

So any more news on this?

 

[TwilightPro101]

All I can say is about time on this one.

 

[Brian2887]

I love the book. Adapting Palahniuk isn't easy, but Fight Club proved it's possible.

Let's hope they knock this one out of the park. With that cast, I think we're well on the way.

 

[Cinemaman]

I hope cast won't be the best part of the movie, it's all about how you tell the story.

 

[Mr. Credible]

i wouldn't mind seeing lullaby adapted.

 

[War Party]

http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/11/30/first-look-sam-rockwell-in-clark-greggs-choke/

Now don't get confused here. Author Chuck Palahniuk, who also wrote Fight Club (yes, that Fight Club), also wrote another novel titled Choke, which indie filmmaker Clark Gregg adapted and directed. The film was just announced as one of the premieres at Sundance in January. It stars Sam Rockwell as Victor Mancini, a sex addicted con man who makes his living by staging his own choking episodes in expensive restaurants and playing upon the sympathies of those who "save" him. Thanks to Twitch we've got the very first look at Sam Rockwell and his co-star Brad William Henke in Choke.

Here's how Amazon.com describes the novel: Victor Mancini is a ruthless con artist. Victor Mancini is a med-school dropout who's taken a job playing an Irish indentured servant in a colonial-era theme park in order to help care for his Alzheimer's-afflicted mother. Victor Mancini is a sex addict. Victor Mancini is a direct descendant of Jesus Christ. All of these statements about the protagonist of Choke are more or less true. Welcome, once again, to the world of Chuck Palahniuk.
"Art never comes from happiness." So says Mancini's mother only a few pages into the novel. Given her own dicey and melodramatic style of parenting, you would think that her son's life would be chock-full of nothing but art. Alas, that's not the case. In the fine tradition of Oedipus, Stephen Dedalus, and Anthony Soprano, Victor hasn't quite reconciled his issues with his mother. Instead, he's trawling sexual-addiction recovery meetings for dates and purposely choking in restaurants for a few moments of attention. Longing for a hug, in other words, he's settling for the Heimlich.

I'm pretty much looking forward to this almost more than any other movie at Sundance. Sam Rockwell continues to impress me, both in Assassination of Jesse James this year and with one of my favorite performances in XX from Sundance last year. This will definitely be one to keep an eye on.
Choke is directed by actor-turned-director Clark Gregg, as his first time feature which he also co-stars in. The film will debut at Sundance and doesn't currently have a distributor, but I'm sure it will be snapped up fairly quickly.

 

[Mr. Credible]

i can't wait for this movie.

palahniuk is easily the best author out there today, and my personal favorite of all time.

 

[Anton Chigurgh]

i'm kinda wondering how this movie won't be rated NC17 given the graphic content of the novel... either way i'm really looking forward to it... choke is the first of palahniuk's books i read and it's still my favorite of his. it's about damn time.

 

[Rez]

I always loved how the blurb about Choke had virtually nothing to do with the book. Anyway, I'm extremely nervous about this film. Fincher pulled off a perfect(and dare I say better) adaptation with Fight Club, but that was without a doubt Palahniuk's tamest work, while Choke is much more out there, complex, and demanding than Fight Club. Rockwell has consistently been amazing, so I'm definately excited. But Fight Club is one of my favorite movies from a book that doesn't even begin to touch my list of favorites. Choke is near the top of that list. I'm nervous as all hell.