It seems a graphic novel adaptation of a wildly popular true crime story that has been making the Hollywood rounds for the last two decades may have finally found a home—and a producer who is more than capable of bringing it to life. After an intense bidding war was won by Netflix with a 7-figure deal, this true-crime tale is finally being brought to life.
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It looks like no writer or director is attached to the film just yet, but Zach Cregger, who brought us horror phenomenon Weapons, is set to produce Torso, a take on the story of Elliot Ness in the second phase of his famous career. Alex Hedlund and Nick Antosca are also coming on as producers, via their company Eat the Cat. They’re most well-known for bringing to life other impressive true-crime projects, Candy and A Friend of the Family.
This Is Great News For Fans Of The Graphic Novels
Torso, which was initially published by Image Comics as a limited series with only six issues all the way back in 1998, centered around the true story of Elliot Ness post Al Capone. Focusing on the period in time after he moved to Cleveland and became embroiled in the hunt for a serial killer who was leaving, you guessed it, torsos in the river, alongside notes that were meant to taunt local police. Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko, who are also set to be executive producers, wrote the original story, with the art being done by Bendis. The graphic novel was inspired after Bendis got his hands on the case files of what’s known as the Cleveland Torso Murders, which were given to him by his boss at the newspaper he worked for at the time. The files contained all of the remaining visual evidence and testimonies, such as photographs and newspaper excerpts—as well as written interviews left behind by Ness himself.
Multiple names have been attached to some version of the project since 2013, including David Lowery, Paul Greengrass, and David Fincher as potential directors, and Matt Damon as a potential part of the cast. Separate scripts were even rumored to have been written by Ehren Kruger and Brian Helgeland. But Cregger’s stellar history with horror gems Barbarian and Weapons, not to mention his upcoming Resident Evil project, makes his involvement with Torso particularly exciting—and definitely something to watch out for.
Are you excited for Torso to finally make its big screen debut? Let us know in the comments below, and then head over to the ComicBook forum to see what other fans are saying.
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