Post Lunar Park Video Interview

Another video interview via Abszinth of Bret in his mother's house shortly after the release of Lunar Park.

Bret In Budapest Roundup

A big thanks goes out to Hungarian reader abszinth for gathering all this info on Bret's appearance at the Budapest Book Festival. She also posted a long account of her experience at her blog including a few MP3s of Bret talking and reading from Lunar Park.

This photo was taken before the first dedication on Friday.

Videos From Budapest

I have not had a chance to view these yet (my wife gave birth to our 2nd child on April 23rd) so I don't know much about their content, but here are 3 videos of Bret's appearance at the Budapest International Book Festival.

Robert Downey Jr. Blames Less Than Zero

Robert Downey Jr. is now claiming that his role in Less Than Zero made his drug addition worse.

"Until that movie I took my drugs after work and on the weekends. That changed on Less Than Zero. The role was like the ghost of Christmas Future. I became an exaggeration of the character."

That seems to be a big cop-out, but maybe his personality is such that he has trouble distinguishing real life from acting. If thats the case, lets hope he doesn't start carrying around an assault rifle pretending to be black.

Amazon: Less Than Zero DVD

Bret In Budapest

Bret will be the guest of honor at Budapest's 15th International Book Festival. The Festival runs from April 24-27. [thanks Stephanie]

Informers Article In V Magazine

The issue of V Magazine with Gwen Stefani on the cover has an article about Bret and The Informers film. There isn't anything online other than this blurb. [thanks Jason]

American Informer
The Informers is the latest of Bret Easton Ellis's dark works to hit the big screen. The novelist is no stranger to Hollywood

No Vampires In The Informers Film?

Has the mention of vampires been removed from The Informers film?

However, Jon Foster who plays Graham, the son of a Hollywood movie exec (Billy Bob Thornton) has made the shocking revelation that there are no creatures from the dead in director Gregor Jordon's upcoming adaptation.

"There are no more vampires. They took the vampires out. There are no zombies or monsters either," he announces. "This is more about the narcissistic side of people's characters. God knows why they took the vampire characters out. I can't say if I was pleased or displeased, that is just the way it is."

LA Times Looks Back On Ellis' Career

The LA Times has a nice article about Bret [thank Matthew], his place in the literary world and how the public and critics perceive him.

And because a literary, as opposed to a genre, novel is supposed to be about "depth" or "substance," one thing that's never forgiven is a perceived superficiality.

"He has a way of capturing flattened affect and cynicism, which is part of American life," said (NY Times film critic, A.O.) Scott. "He's fastened onto a loss of self, the replacement of feeling with intensity of sensation - whether by sex or drugs or violence or celebrity. Part of the reasons these books feel so cold, and sometimes unpleasant, is that there's no relief. In a way they're dystopian novels."

Thats a pretty good summary from AO Scott. I always laughed at the people who criticized Ellis' work for being shallow and empty, because for me it seems that his characters were meant to be exactly that. Writing stories about characters that are most interested in what brand of clothing they are wearing or what restaurant they were going to eat at was part of the point - its a social commentary on the pointlessness and selfishness of people's lives.

Ellis doesn't attempt to write the 'great American novel' wherein our hero faces some personal crisis before finding an inner strength to overcome and resume their place as a normal 'whole' person. Instead we get novels that are more of a glimpse into a portion of the lives of very flawed people - we get no great resolution at the end of the novel. No happy ending. No moral awakening.

And that seems to be exactly the point Ellis' is trying to make. This is real life. Flawed people don't always get 'fixed'. There often is no 'normal' to return to.

Ellis Writing Screenplay For 'Downers Grove'

We may have to wait awhile for Imperial Bedrooms to be published, but it looks like there's a good reason.

Bret Easton Ellis will be writing the screenplay for Downers Grove.

The independently financed project centers on a paranoid high school senior for whom graduating has become a matter of life or death. The novel was published in 1999 by Michael Hornburg.

I've never read anything by Michael Hornburg before. Any of you have thoughts on the Downers Grove novel and how it might translate onto the big screen?

Ellis Appearance With Joe McGinniss Jr.

Bret Easton Ellis will be appearing with Joe McGinniss Jr. in support of The Delivery Man at Book Soup in West Hollywood.

Book Soup
8818 Sunset Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Tuesday - 2/12/2008
7:00 PM

If you get the chance to go, ask Bret about Imperial Bedrooms.

Next For Ellis - Imperial Bedrooms?

So a couple weeks ago I received a copy of The Delivery Man by Joe McGinniss Jr. and as I'm prepping to write a review of it last night (I'm about 1/3 thru with the book currently - its excellent so far) and I come across this review in the Washington City Paper that happened to include a huge tidbit of Bret Easton Ellis News.

Like Ellis' 1985 novel about Los Angeles party kids, Less Than Zero, The Delivery Man's title was inspired by an Elvis Costello song. (So was Ellis' forthcoming novel, a Less Than Zero sequel titled Imperial Bedrooms.)

Informers Cast Member Dies

Brad Renfro died this morning, likely of a drug overdose. He had been filming a part for The Informers, but I'm not sure if he finished everything that needed to be done. This may cause the need for some re-shoots if there were unfinished scenes.

UPDATE: Renfro's death is now confirmed as a heroin & morphine overdose.

Russian Book Covers

Thanks to Konstantin for sending in these great Russian covers of Bret's novels. Below are Lunar Park and Less Than Zero.

The Informers South American Set Pics

La Republica has a few set pictures from The Informers on location in South America.

American Psycho Interview

Thanks to Johannes for sending in this Charlie Rose interview with Bret Easton Ellis, Christian Bale and Mary Harron about American Psycho. Its 18+ minutes long, so get comfortable.

French Lunar Park Cover

This French cover for Lunar Park was very disappointing. Usually, the foreign covers are more interesting than the American originals - but not this one.

Thanks to Albedo for sending it in.

Fires by Nick Antosca

First off, I need to apologize to Nick for the length of time it took to get this brief review up on the website. He was kind enough to send me a signed copy of the book several months ago and alot of personal issues got in the way of me devoting any time to the novel until recently.

Fires is the debut novel from Nick Antosca. The book revolves around 2 high school acquantencies (Jon and James) whose paths cross again in a 'violent sex triangle' during college. Eventually the 2 return to their deserted hometown together in the midst of encroaching wildfires after a body is found in the home of a former teacher who lived across the street from Jon.

I found Fires to be an extremely dark book - similar in mood to Donnie Darko - built around disturbed characters. I enjoyed the book alot, it managed to suck me into the story right from the start and I didn't put it down till I was thru.

Buy from Amazon: Fires by Nick Antosca

Ashley Olsen Out Of Informers

Looks like Ashley Olsen may be off The Informers. She's not listed at the IMDB page anymore.

Lunar Park Screenplay

Some movement on the Lunar Park movie front. PalmStar put an update out - apparently in October (how did this not hit their RSS feed?) - that names Lane Shadgett as the screenplay writer. (UPDATE: The PalmStar RSS feed apparently died on September 27th)

Lane is a complete unknown to me. His only other writing credit on IMDB is for All Lost Souls which is still in production.

There also may or may not be a director attached. Glad to see the project is progressing.

The Informers: Winona On Set

Here are some pictures of Winona Ryder during filming of The Informers.