Goddamn, it’s been a long time since we heard anything about TORSO, the proposed David Fincher-directed adaptation of Brian Bendis and Marc Andreyko’s graphic novel about Eliot Ness and the torso murders. Matt Damon was attached to the film, but earlier this year, Paramount let the rights lapse and the project when into limbo.
Speaking with Brian Bendis, MTV learned that perhaps isn’t all lost with TORSOb> – although things have obviously been bumpy.
“Last December, we got the green light … and then three days later there was no green light,” he said. “Imagine you get a call, you won the lottery… [then] no, you didn’t. It’s much worse than never getting the call. It was a very exciting moment, and then it went away.”
However, Bendis says “things are percolating” and the project is not dead yet, as the rights reverted back to him and Andreyko. Whether or not Fincher is still involved is unknown, but also unlikely…
The story follows real-life federal agent Eliot Ness (Matt Damon) — made famous by “The Untouchables” — after he closes the Al Capone case in Chicago and moves to Cleveland. There he makes a promise to help clean up the town until the city is scarred by a series of gruesome killings known as the “torso” murders.
To see the whole interview, head on over to MTV.