Variety reports that Paramount is close to greenlighting a film version of Michael Chabon's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.  Veteran director Sidney Pollack (Klute) is working with Chabon on the screenplay, and Scott Rubin, who produced Wonder Boys, which was adapted from another Chabon novel, will produced the film. According to Variety an early 2003 production date is likely.

 

Set in the yeasty milieu of golden age comic book publishing, when the comic book was being invented and defined against a background of the struggle against Nazism, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is full of insights about the way in which comics developed (see 'The Most Influential Film in the History of Comics'), and the book is a great read for anyone who enjoys comics.

 

Chabon is a fascinating author who is obviously thrilled by the vigor of the popular arts (including comics), but who nevertheless has managed to amass loads of literary credibility.  Chabon was able to help publicize last year's WonderCon, which fortuitously coincided with his winning the Pulitzer for Kavalier & Clay (see 'ComicCon International Takes Over WonderCon').  For his next project Chabon is writing a book of short stories, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, which will include a horror story, a Sherlock Holmes story, a ghost story, an adventure story, a science fiction story, a sea story and a story of suspense. To create these tales, Chabon will 'channel' some of his formative literary influences including, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Michael Chabon is one literary figure, who has considerable relevance for pop culture retailers.