Novelist Chuck Palahniuk tweeted news that his novel Fight Club — which of course was the basis of the cult classic film — is being made into a rock opera by — if his tweet doesn’t deceive — Julie Taymor and David Fincher. He cheekily wrote:
https://twitter.com/chuckpalahniuk/status/620054422429700096
Judging by the talent allegedly involved, it seems like this isn’t going to be any half-assed job. Taymor directed Titus and Frida but is mostly known for her theatre and opera work, including The Lion King (which won her the Tony for directing) and Stravinsky’s Oedipus rex. Fincher, of course, directed the hit 1999 movie adaptation of Fight Club that starred Brad Pitt and Ed Norton.
It’ll be intriguing to see how the partnership works (as both are notorious perfectionists), and how the creative burden gets divided between the two. Fincher’s overly stylized film was critiqued by many for being at odds with some of the novel’s core messages, while Taymor’s last dalliance into contemporary rock theatre was the calamitous Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark.
Palahniuk tweeted the news from the San Diego Comic-Con, where he was promoting Fight Club 2, a comic book series that follows the exploits of Marla and Sebastian ten years after the events of the original novel. It was reported that he also confirmed the rock opera at the conference, where, after previous rumors, he verified that Trent Reznor would be doing the music.