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Brian Bendis Says Torso Film Adaptation is 'Not Dead Yet'

by Alex Billington
October 22, 2009
Source: MTV

Back in January, we reported that Paramount had lost the rights to their adaptation of Torso, the graphic novel written by Brian Bendis. The project was apparently moving along swiftly with David Fincher in line to direct and Matt Damon in line to star, but fell apart last minute. Bendis gave an update to MTV recently and not only confirms that it was a lot closer to starting than we thought, but promises it's "not dead yet." "Last December, we got the green light... and then three days later there was no green light. Imagine you get a call, you won the lottery... [then] no, you didn't... It was a very exciting moment, and then it went away."

When asked if he had a "final word" on the project's status, Bendis admitted, "a week ago I had final, but this weekend, not so much with the final." Sounds like that status changes day-to-day. "The rights reverted back to [co-creator Marc Andreyko] and myself, and it all kind of went away," he continued. "Now, not so much. Things are percolating back and movement is afoot behind the scenes to get it going again with all the principals, so... we'll see what happens." Principals? Does he mean David Fincher and Matt Damon or just producer Bill Mechanic? It may no longer be at Paramount, but if any of those guys are still looking to get on-board once again, that's definitely very good news for this adaptation.

As a reminder, Torso is a black and white graphic novel (seen to the right) about the story of the "torso" murders that took place in Cleveland in the 1930's, in which at least 13 people were killed between 1934 and 1938. Fresh off of the Al Capone case in Chicago, Eliot Ness moves to Cleveland to help clean up the city. But when dismembered body parts start washing up near Lake Erie Sound, Ness starts on another lengthy investigation. And as far as we know, the killings were never solved. It seems like a very interesting story and perfect for the big screen, so hopefully things keep moving and we do one day get to see a Torso movie.

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