Since 1987 there have been four mainstream adaptations of Bret Easton Ellis novels and there has never been any kind of consistency. The movies have ranged from great cult classics (Less Than Zero, American Psycho), to mediocre (Rules of Attraction) to just downright awful (The Informers). Of the four, the only screenplay with contribution from Easton Ellis has been The Informers, but obviously that didn't work out as well as planned. Lesson presumably learned, he's now taking a different tactic - adapt someone else's work.
Variety reports that an adaptation of the Michael Hornberg novel Downers Grove written by Easton Ellis is currently being shopped around the American Film Market and already has a couple of interesting names attached. According to the article, Hayden Panettiere, Nikki Reed and Rebecca De Mornay are currently attached to the thriller, which will be directed by Nelson McCormick (Prom Night). Set in the Chicago suburb featured in the title, the main characters attend a cursed high school where at the end of each year a student is killed in bizarre fashion.
To say that things don't look great for this project would be an understatement. While I'm not too familiar with the source material, Prom Night was, by all accounts, a terrible movie, and it's been a long time since the first season of Heroes and Thirteen. There's always room for surprisingly good movies in Hollywood and I'm more than happy to share them when they succeed, but I wouldn't hold out too much hope for this one.
