I've been saying all week that
David Fincher's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo looks almost like it could be a sequel to Se7en and now comes word from
Vulture of a new attachment that likewise could be related to another of his previous works. This time his forgotten 2002 film,
Panic Room. Fincher has optioned the rights to
Panic Attack, a novel from
Jason Starr about a New York shrink who shoots and kills a home intruder, then faces a media frenzy and the victims vengeful accomplice. Yup, that definitely sounds like a movie in Fincher's pulpy wheelhouse (Se7en, The Game) rather than his more serious historical re-tellings (Zodiac, Social Network) and as I say seems to kick off where Panic Room left off. Ocean's Eleven and Matchstick Men scribe
Ted Griffin is working on the screenplay. Author Starr said;
...the thing about Panic Attack is that theres a really compelling antihero in this guy Johnny Long . Hes a very clever, Ripley-esque psychopath.
Of course Fincher directed
Alien 3, so perhaps the author reached out to the director for this. But we are a long way from him committing to make this anytime soon. He has a number of projects circling including the 3D remake of
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea that he is desperate to make and Sony and his friend Brad Pitt's wife
Angelina Jolie are knocking down his door every other day to see if he wants to helm the ambitious
Cleopatra remake. Plus, if Dragon Tattoo kicks off the way many think it will, Sony will also be hounding him down to direct the two sequels to that franchise. In the end he might just produce Panic Attack, I guess it will depend on how much he likes Griffin's script and how much he wants to direct other things but in any event, it's easy to see his attraction to this. Fittingly, Fincher's new production company Panic Pictures will produce with financial backing from Media Rights Capital.