- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday May 7 2008 10.02 BST
- The Guardian, Wednesday May 7 2008
Martin Amis's darkly comic novel London Fields is being made into a film. Amis himself is collaborating on the adaptation of his controversial 1989 novel, and may even take a small part in the resulting film, which will be directed by David Mackenzie, best known for the films Hallam Foe, released last year, and 2003's Young Adam.
Amis is working on the screenplay with Roberta Hanley, co-founder of Muse Productions, the film production company behind indie hits such as as The Virgin Suicides, Buffalo 66 and American Psycho. It's a good fit for Amis's novel, which was omitted from the Booker prize shortlist in 1989 amid fierce debate after two of the prize's judges deemed it misogynistic. The novel centres on the character of Nicola Six, a femme fatale who foresees the exact date and manner of her own death in a dream. Not knowing who the future "murderer" might be, she manipulates three potential candidates - crook Keith Talent, rich banker Guy Clinch and terminally ill American author Samson Young - into meeting at the Black Cross pub in west London's Portobello Road for her impending death.
According to the film's producer, Chris Hanley, the crux of the storyline is that: "We don't know if it is free will or determinism - it really is a gripping plot that translates perfectly to film." Filming is scheduled to start later this year in London.
