Remember “The Golden Suicides,” the tragic and mysterious “double suicide” story about Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake, two artists deeply in love, who both committed killed themselves one after the other (she used pills, he walked into the Atlantic Ocean a week later)? The story about beautiful, talented, up-and-coming artists who suddenly committed suicides under mysterious conditions consumed media (especially New York media where they were from for weeks)? Vanity Fair would soon write “The Golden Suicides,” a lengthy, engrossing deep-dive into their charmed lives, their fated death and the strange aftermath. “The Golden Suicides” enthralled many and soon, “American Psycho” author Bret Easton Ellis optioned the rights (or producers did and he was hired anyhow) to write the screenplay.
Gus Van Sant was attached early on to direct the film, and then eventually, Gaspar Noé signed on. Not a lot of movement happened on the film over the years, and the last sign of life was in 2011, when in a “make it happen moment,” Ellis revealed on Twitter that Ryan Gosling had met with Noe about the lead role and oh my, wouldn’t that make for an amazing film?
READ MORE: Gaspar Noé May Direct Bret Easton Ellis Script ‘The Golden Suicides’
It turns out that’s exactly what Ellis was doing as revealed on the CBC podcast Chosen Family, this week. Ellis revealed, near the end of the conversation, much about of it about his provocative work, Millennials, and gay political correctness, that Ryan Gosling and Naomi Watts were both set and interested in starring in the movie. One problem— Noé thought they were wrong for the parts (this might explain why Noe and Gosling were spotted on the set of Nicolas Winding Refn‘s “Only God Forgives” a few months later, possibly still discussing the role).
READ MORE: Is Ryan Gosling Starring In Gaspar Noé’s Bret Easton Ellis-Penned ‘The Golden Suicides?’
“We had Ryan Gosling wanting to play him and Naomi Watts wanting to play her… and we had them, but Gaspar Noé said, ‘No, they’re wrong. They’re wrong for the part,'” Ellis said with a kind of exasperated disbelief. “We could have got financing for that…no, you don’t trust Gaspar,” he laughed, continuing the story and then said the project took a “big hit” and essentially went into limbo.
Ellis says the script he wrote was essentially a “dead project,” but noted, very recently, some new (unmentioned) filmmakers (two actors and a direct) recently inquired about the script and are interested, but who knows. “Never say never” he says, but it’s clear, the project was very DOA for years.
Ellis also says he has a horror script he has written that he hopes to direct, but that appears to be all that’s on the horizon. Fingers crossed that someone excavates that project at some point? If you haven’t read that Vanity Fair articles, it’s a must and you should go do that right now.