We managed to miss this the other day, but here’s a real indie comic to indie film adaptation: WRISTCUTTERS, based on PIZZERIA KAMIKAZE by Etgar Keret and Asaf Hanuka. The movie has been garnering acclaim at Sundance and the Spirit Awards and so on. PR via Jeff Mason, whose Alternative Comics published the graphic novel:
AfterDark Films has acquired North American rights to Goran Dukic’s dark romantic comedy “Wristcutters: A Love Story,” starring Patrick Fugit, Shannyn Sossamon, Will Arnett and Tom Waits.
The film will be released in August via the company’s Lionsgate output deal. A potentially controversial marketing campaign is planned, featuring cardboard cutouts of characters jumping off a bridge, electrocuting and hanging themselves in keeping with the film’s suicide theme. “We just hope they don’t cause too many accidents,” said AfterDark partner Courtney Solomon, who plans to place the signage on telephone poles and trees in major markets.
“Wristcutters” is the film adaptation of bestselling Israeli author Etgar Keret’s Pizzeria Kamikaze graphic novel from Alternative Comics illustrated by Asaf Hanuka, originally from Keret’s short story “Kneller’s Happy Campers.” Serialized in the award winning Bipolar comic, and previously translated into 13 languages, Pizzeria Kamikaze is a worldwide bestseller.
The film follows a group of young adults stuck in purgatory after committing suicide. The group embarks on a “Wizard of Oz”-style road trip, stopping at a magical camp run by an eccentric man (Waits) on their way to meeting the messiah (Arnett). Fugit will play a heartbroken member of the group, and Sossamon plays a hitchhiker who claims that her fate is all a big mistake.
The film debuted at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and went on to win best feature honors at last year’s Gen Art Film Festival. It earned a nomination for best film not playing at a theater near you at fall’s Gotham Awards and noms for best first feature and best first screenplay at the Independent Spirit Awards in February.
Tom Waits appears in the film.
Actually, despite the claim in that press release, the film isn’t really based on the graphic novel. The graphic novel and the film were adapted independently from the short story, with the graphic novel being a straight adaptation and the film going off more in its own direction. That said, I’m a big fan of both and it’s great that the film is finally getting a release.
The director confirmed that the graphic novel and movie adaptation were independent of one another at a Q&A after a showing at the Edinburgh International Film Festival I caught last summer. Actually he said the author passed on some changes from the movie version to Asaf to let him know about it. Terrific film, really good to see it finally getting some distribution.