Bendis’ ‘Torso’ is Still Alive
by Britt Hayes
A couple of years ago, David Fincher was set to adapt Brian Michael Bendis’ graphic novel Torso for the big screen. Torso is the true story of Eliot Ness’ hunt for the Cleveland Torso Killer – one of the most gruesome serial killers of all time. But as soon as the film was given the green light from Paramount, the rights lapsed, and the film adaptation of Torso fell off the agenda.
Now, Brian Michael Bendis has told MTV that Torso is still alive:
“The rights reverted back to [co-creator Marc Andreyko] and myself, and it all kind of went away. 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.”
Does this mean that Fincher is back? After Fincher’s Zodiac, it seems completely warranted for him to do another film based on a serial killer. What Fincher did with Zodiac – not making it so much about the killer as it was about the hunt – seems relevant to Torso; moreover, Fincher is absolutely brilliant with recreating the past. In both Zodiac and Benjamin Button, he expertly crafted time periods long lost, and truly captured not only the look, but the feel of those periods. I am endlessly amazed with Fincher’s talents, and would love to see him wrangle Torso. This news doesn’t mention Mr. Fincher, and I’m sure the film will be great with or without him, but that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t love if Fincher directed another film on this level sometime in the near future. Preferably after his upcoming Facebook film, penned by Aaron Sorkin.
