Adaptation

Rock star Craig Finn and CBS' Late Show With David Letterman writer Tom Ruprecht will adapt rock & roll writer Chuck Klosterman's memoir for the big screen.

Entitled "Fargo Rock City," the memoir recounts the writer's adventures as a heavy metal fan in a tiny North Dakota town. The singer and the television writer bought the film rights to the book, and Klosterman will help them produce the feature.

Finn is the literary-minded lead singer of The Hold Steady, and reminisced about his teenage years in The Hollywood Reporter: "[A]t that age that you have drivers licenses and a certain amount of independence, but you're still young enough that you can totally make terrible decisions ... And you're still young enough that you can have a two-hour argument over whether Motley Crue would beat Guns 'N Roses in a fight." (Via Speakeasy)

As the Dave Eggers-scripted adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are hit theaters recently, blockbuster-watchers have been comparing the film's ticket sales to other adaptations of classic books.

The adaptation of Maurice Sendak's beloved storybook provides an interesting look at the relative success of other literary adaptations for young readers. Here's Box Office Mojo's report on the film's first week at the box office: "While Where the Wild Things Are wasn't earth-shattering, it clawed its way into the top tier among debuts for children's book adaptations that aren't Harry Potter and was mightier than Bridge to Terabithia, Jumanji and other comparable titles."

One week later, Box Office Mojo noted the film's 57 percent drop at the box office, knocked down the indie horror flick, Paranormal Activity: "Wild Things rustled up $14 million, lifting its total to $53.6 million in ten days, but its drop was much steeper than Bridge to Terabithia and other similar titles."

Director Wes Anderson has wrapped his adaptation of Roald Dahl's children's book, "Fantastic Mr. Fox."

Anderson wrote the script with Noah Baumbach, the screenwriter who helped write "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou." According to the LA Times, they co-wrote the movie in the late author Dahl's writing studio. The article includes some rocky stories from the film's crew.

Here's a quote from Anderson, from the article: "We wanted to make the movie an homage to Dahl ... Mr. Fox's study is based on the hut where Dahl used to write. Both the main farmer, Bean, and Mr. Fox are inspired by Dahl as much as they're inspired by what's in the book."

After just a few episodes, HBO has renewed Bored to Death for another season. The literary show is a private detective fantasy adapted from a McSweeney's story by Jonathan Ames, starring Jason Schwartzman and Ted Danson.

So far, the critics have dug the show. The NY Times called it "best new comedy of the season" and the New Yorker wrote: "In the HBO series, Ames has combined his writing self with his performing self and created something that is about ego without seeming egotistical." Any GalleyCat readers watching the show? Leave your thoughts in the comments section...

According to a Seattle PI report: "The pickup comes days after the show saw a ratings high of 1.1 million on Sunday, when it followed Curb Your Enthusiasm's Seinfeld reunion episode. Since its Sept. 20 debut, Bored to Death's pilot has been seen by 4.1 million viewers with repeats factored in." (Via Sarah Weinman)

According to Variety, Music Box Films has purchased U.S. rights to the Swedish adaptation of the late Stieg Larsson's bestseller, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."

The film has already collected nearly $100 million around the world, and was produced for a lean $13 million. The company plans to bring the film to U.S. theaters "early next year."

Here's more about the production, from the article: "Niels Arden Oplev helmed the pic, which stars Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace ... The next pic in the trilogy, 'The Girl Who Played With Fire,' has already taken $16 million from four foreign markets."

Canadian production company 9 Story Entertainment just sold a live-action adaptation of the children's classic "Harriet the Spy" to the Disney Channel--the book will become a television movie.

Here's more from The Hollywood Reporter: The movie, based on the classic kids book series by Louise Fitzhugh, will bow worldwide on Disney Channels, a co-producer with 9 Story Entertainment. Nancy Steingard and Wendy Moss-Klein will executive produce."

The original book follows the adventures of a young writer who learns the power of spying on her friends and writing about their lives. In 1996, the book was adapted into a theatrical film by the same name.

Diablo Cody, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Juno, is slated to adapt and produce "Sweet Valley High" for the big screen.

According to Variety, the popular YA series by Francine Pascal has already spawned 150 books and 88 television show episodes in the late 1990s. Cody struck her deal with Universal after the studio won a bidding battle with Fox.

Here's more from the article: "[Universal put out the word last week that it's not spending money for the rest of this year to advance development projects -- unless they're being fast-tracked or greenlit. Deal comes on the heels of a tepid opening for "Jennifer's Body," which Cody scripted."

Last night GalleyCat prowled the aisles of the New York City premiere of "The Boys Are Back," an adaptation of Simon Carr's memoir by the same name. The film polished Carr's raw and powerful book into a more conventional story, giving the author a flattering career milestone--in the movie, dreamy actor Clive Owen plays a fictionalized version of the British journalist.

After the screening, one GalleyCat editor asked director Scott Hicks about taking Carr's memoir to the big screen. "The memoir is very anecdotal, a collection of incidents scattered over time," explained the celebrated director of Shine and the Stephen King adaptation, Hearts in Atlantis.

"What [screenwriter] Allan Cubitt has done is weave all these pieces into a narrative structure," he continued. "I would keep feeding off the memoir. I'd go to him and say, 'we've got to have that [memoir] scene.' ... And he'd find a way to weave it in. The memoir was a constant reference point. It was very skillfully adapted in the first place."

As Gwen Cooper's literary cat rises up the bestseller lists in the United States, producer Simon Brooks, the creative force behind the films "White Noise" and "Proteus," will bring the book, "Endal: How One Extraordinary Dog Brought a Family Back from the Brink," to the big screen.

According to Screen Daily, the book told the story of Labrador trained by the UK-based Canine Partners charity to help a disabled Gulf War veteran readjust to life. The book was co-written by Sandra Partons and Allen Partons.

Read more about the adaptation in the article: "The dog not only assisted Parton with everyday chores, including withdrawing money from a cash machine, but he was also credited with saving the Parton's life after he'd been hit by a passing car."

Conspiracy theorists of all stripes have hypothesized for years about the CIA's influence through political revolutions, propaganda, and the manipulation of politicians. One writer has uncovered the government agency's shady influence on classic novel adaptations as well.

Author Hugh Wilford's new book, "The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America" reveals how the CIA influenced popular culture in a variety of unexpected ways. In a long Commentary essay, for instance, the CIA's influence on films, art, and publishing is laid out in amazing detail. The CIA dealt with every corner of culture, from a New York Times publisher to the producers of a Jerry Lewis picture.

Here's an excerpt from the article: "In addition to providing most of the funding for an animated film version of Animal Farm, George Orwell's anti-Stalinist fable, the CIA planted an operative inside Paramount Pictures ... Another operative worked directly with the writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz to shape the film version of Graham Greene's novel The Quiet American."