Not to be mistaken with the 1979 Disney film turned upcoming Joseph Kosinski remake, author Charles Burns‘ “Black Hole” remains one of the great adaptations lying in wait. Published between 1995 and 2005, the highly acclaimed graphic novel drew attention from Hollywood immediately, with Paramount snagging the rights and putting Alexandre Aja to direct and the team of Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman to pen a script. In 2008, David Fincher replaced Aja as helmer, but Gaiman and Avary drifted away shortly thereafter. The project has since become another “what-if?” scenario; one of Fincher’s “lost projects” we hoped he would one day return to. And now looks like Brad Pitt and his production company Plan B is helping to make that happen.
Looking to the future following their Oscar contender “12 Years a Slave,” Pitt’s label Plan B has laid out an ambitious slate of projects (via THR), including the Andrew Dominik-directed Marilyn Monroe biopic, “Blonde,” an adaptation of Michael Hastings’ book “The Operators,” and most notably, a revived version of “Black Hole” with Fincher still attached. Burns’ book follows a group of Seattle teens in the 1970s who contract “The Bug,” an incurable sexually-transmitted disease that causes shocking mutations among them all.
After his involvement in “Black Hole” was cast into question when “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” remake drew his interest, the fact that Fincher is back is encouraging, especially when there’s such quality, fitting material that the director can explore in Burns’ work. No word yet on where Plan B is with the production, but another literary property—author Matt Haig‘s novel “The Last Family In England”—is set to go. A tragi-comic tale featuring a talking dog’s perspective on his human family’s neuroses and affairs, director/actor Taika Waititi will helm the picture, having previously directed “Eagle vs. Shark” and the underseen “Boy.” No release date set yet either, but it’s safe to say Plan B’s upcoming slate is worth closely following for the near future.
