So Comic-Con is over but the little ripple repercussions will keep spreading this week, I imagine. One nugget that dropped over the weekend that immediately caught my eye this morning was the fact that “Fight Club” author Chuck Palahniuk is working on a graphic novel sequel to the book that spawned David Fincher’s 1999 consumerism-lynching film.
The news came during a panel and was confirmed by the author to the website chuckpalahniuuk.net. “It will likely be a series of books that update the story 10 years after the seeming end of Tyler Durden,” Palahniuk told the outlet. “Nowadays, Tyler is telling the story, lurking inside Jack, and ready to launch a come-back. Jack is oblivious. Marla is bored. Their marriage has run aground on the rocky coastline of middle-aged suburban boredom. It’s only when their little boy disappears, kidnapped by Tyler, that Jack is dragged back into the world of Mayhem.”
As long as it doesn’t spawn another movie (because the first is so pristine, part of that glorious year of filmmaking, and has no need for revisitation), I’m in love with this. It’s a great concept and the graphic novel format is a wonderful playground to work through it.
Pahalniuk said that due to contract obligations, the project can’t come to light for a while, but that his publisher might allow him to launch it earlier than 2015 since it will be serialized. It will, he promised, “be dark and messy.” Naturally.
I’ve been working on a separate project about 1999 lately and so I’ve been steeped in the films released that year, particularly “Fight Club.” Like so many gems of that period, it wasn’t well-represented at the Oscars, picking up a lone (albeit deserved) nomination fro Best Sound Editing. It reminds me of “Drive” in that way.
But 1999 wasn’t well-represented on the whole at the Oscars that year, I’d argue. Where was “Three Kings?” Where was “Eyes Wide Shut?” Where was “Run Lola Run?” Why such limited recognition for “Election” and “Topsy-Turvy” and “Magnolia?” I’d be tempted to just chalk it up with a dismissive “typical,” but it seemed a rather embossed quality of the film awards season that year that the truly great, year-defining work wasn’t very well-represented at the Oscars. And the best film of the lot — Michael Mann’s “The Insider” — walked away with zero trophies. Sigh…
Anyway, be on the lookout for this follow-up when it finally makes its way to the page. It sounds intriguing and it would be nice to catch up with Jack and Marla and, of course, Tyler after all this time.