As promised to readers of today's Oregonian: Here's a much longer (and
slightly more profane) edit of my interview with "Choke" and "Fight Club" novelist Chuck Palahniuk....
Chuck Palahniuk says he doesn't mind a bit when smart filmmakers mess with his books.
In fact, Palahniuk -- the author of "Fight Club," "Choke" and several other transgressive cult-hit novels -- encourages the tinkering.
Here's what he says about director David Fincher, who tweaked the ending of "Fight Club": "These people are really, really smart -- and whatever they're going to do is going to be smarter than what I can dictate. My job is not to try to control this process; it's to try and be present and learn from what they're doing."
And here's what Palahniuk told writer-director Clark Gregg, who just finished a no-budget adaptation of "Choke," which opens in Portland this Friday: "For six or seven years, every conversation was me really pushing Clark to change everything he wanted to change ... so that the movie and book would stand alone as their own distinct, valid things.... There was a little bit of browbeating for him to finally accept that he had that freedom. But I think he loved it when he had it."
Of course, Palahniuk is lucky in that his trust has been well-placed: "Choke" is weird and shocking and funny and terrific. It tells the story of a historical re-enactor and sex addict named Victor (Sam Rockwell) who stages choking incidents in restaurants for cash. Victor dropped out of med school to care for his mother, Ida (Anjelica Huston), a former '60s radical fading fast in a mental hospital. Victor's barrel-scraping life plunges even deeper when he courts a loony-bin doctor (Kelly MacDonald) with surprising revelations about his parentage.
Gregg (who wrote "What Lies Beneath" and is best-known for playing Richard on "The New Adventures of Old Christine") shot his film in a blistering three weeks. The resulting lack of visual panache is more than compensated by the film's wicked humor and terrific performances -- especially Rockwell's furious, sympathetic take on a sleazy con man.
Palahniuk forged a writing career in his mid-30s, after stints as a journalist and diesel mechanic. He now lives in the Columbia Gorge and occasionally turns up in costume at Portland Cacophony Society events like the pirate-themed Plunderathon. Mostly, he nurtures his rabid fan base and concentrates on his writing -- which also includes "Invisible Monsters," "Rant," "Survivor," "Snuff" and the occasional journalism assignment.
Palahniuk and I talked about "Choke," Sam Rockwell, Bruce Dern, the power of the "profane something," Shakespeare, the perils of literary fiction, Portland's Cacophony Society, sex addiction, Nazi re-enactors, and fan management, among other things. An edited transcript follows the jump.