Roger Avery and Neil Gaiman, the writers of “Beowulf,” spent two years on their script and subsequent rewrites for their adaptation of Charles Burn’s horrifying graphic novel “Black Hole” for David Fincher, but have finally announced that they are no longer attached to it, citing Fincher’s excessive process which “consisted of having over ten drafts, done over and over” and wanting to take the story on a slightly different direction as their reason for departing, in an interview with Gaiman for MTV (Fincher’s kind of a fastidious s.o.b.). Although Fincher is still in possession of their screenplay, Burns has told Shock that it is probably not going to be used, and an unnamed writer has been hired by Fincher. “Black Hole” is set in the 1970s and revolves around a bunch of teens who contract “the Bug,” an incurable sexually transmitted disease that causes physical deformities and are alienated socially because of it.
Alexandre Aja was originally onboard to direct, admittedly an average slasher director and certainly below the material written by Burns, except when Fincher stepped onto the scene, the entire ballgame changed. It’s no secret that Fincher is one of the more demanding directors out there, but if you think about the level of excellence he consistently delivers, film after film, would viewers want it any other way? “I just hope whatever happens, it’s faithful to ‘Black Hole.’” Gaiman said, and something tells me Fincher will do it as much justice as necessary, and perhaps take it even further. – from our friends at Fataculture.