CHUCK KLOSTERMAN SPEAKS OUT ABOUT THE FARGO ROCK CITY MOVIE

Back in October it was announced that The Late Show with David Letterman writer Tom Ruprecht The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn were co-writing a film version of Chuck Klosterman’s book, Fargo Rock City, which is a personal favorite of both Vince and myself. It struck me as a pretty shitty idea at the time, especially in light of the writers’ assertion that the film would not really be about music the way the book is.

Now Klosterman has spoken to /Film about the adaptation, and – not exactly shocking, given that he has a stake in what happens next – he says it’s great:

Obviously, Fargo Rock City with [writers] Craig Finn and Tom Ruprecht looks like it’s going to happen…

Chuck Klosterman: Yeah, you know, I actually just read the script for that for the first time last night. It’s really good. [laughs] But I don’t know if it will become a movie…I do not. [laughs] It seems more likely in a way, because I’ve signed the deal. I’ve sold that movie to Craig and Tom and weirdly [the story in the trades] just kinda came out. And I was pretty…surprised by how much interest there was in it. You know. And the movie they’re making is totally unlike the book in a lot of ways. It basically takes four or five specific anecdotes, like memoir anecdotes from the book, and makes a whole new, totally different narrative. But, the script is pretty funny. It’s so hard to tell when you read something on the page. It’s not like literature where you can really judge it, because you need to hear the actors saying it.

Even with Klosterman’s seal of approval, I’m not sold that this is going to be anything other than a typical coming-of-age story that completely fails to convey everything interesting about Klosterman’s writing. Guess we’ll hafta wait and see, though.

You can read the rest of the interview with Klosterman here.

-AR