ces petits riens

Author Bret Easton Ellis has been giving his rare interviews to various high profile publications (Fantastic Man, Vogue Hommes International etc) as of late with a seemingly altruistic approach, stating not to currently have anything to promote, thus not knowing why accepting to give them in the first place. Ellis' next and seventh novel, Imperial Bedrooms, a sequel to his close-to-perfection debut Less than Zero and yet another title borrowed from Elvis Costello is not due until May 2010. What is due now though is the film adaptation of Ellis' collection of short stories, The Informers, of which the reception has been fairly weak with poor or unfavourable reviews since its screening at this year's Sundance Festival. The catch however is that unlike previous adaptations of Ellis' work; Less than zero, Rules of attraction and American Pyscho, Ellis wrote the script himself for The Informers which might explain his extensively surfing the publication circuit in recent times. Yet Ellis failed to show up for its opening release to take credit for his work which, well, sort of feels like throwing director Gregor Jordan under the bus. Jordan has been quoted as to saying about his feature: "I fully expect some people are going to freak out about this film. It's more about the mood than it is about the plot...Im not going to say have a good time, but I hope you find it entertaining." Indeed the trailer, accompanied by New Order's chilly Blue Monday, displays hope of at least a good atempt at re-incarnating the 80's vibe and the circuit in which the novel is played out.

Although I have yet too see it, that is if it ever sees daylight around these shores whatwith its obvious off-beat feel and consequently limited appeal to the masses (given Ellis' bankable name, it doesn't come across as implausible that it will), I'd think Gregor Jordan probably should've taken some cues from Mary Harron when signing up. The latter's grip on the directing and execution of American Pschyo was absolutely sensational I've come to learn having seen it a few times since its release in 2000 and it is by far the only truly good adaptation of Ellis' work yet. Let's not go into words about the mess that was the adaptation of Less than zero... 

On another note, what is exciting is Ellis' bringing back Clay, the anti-hero of Less than Zero and the others back for another round in the already mentioned Imperial Bedrooms, some twenty years later and now in their middleage. Surely little has changed with (at least some of) these indifferent and laissez-faire characters still on a downward spiral to destruction, as started in the first novel. Randomly picking Less than Zero up at the bookshop 8 years ago, simply judging from the highly pleasing art work and loosely knowing about this creator of Patrick Bateman, surely qualifies as one of the best buys in the history of this household.

Photo: Guy Bourdin