Gus Van Sant Pens The Golden Suicides

Milk director Gus Van Sant has a new project on the horizon, and it’s going to be heavy. According to Variety, the director will team up with author Brett Easton Ellis to form a suicide pact, not literally but for the screen. The duo will co-write the screenplay for the film adaptation of The Golden Suicides, which has been acquired by PalmStar Entertainment, Celluloid Dreams and K5 Film.

The Golden Suicides centers on the double suicide of artists Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake. Both individuals were talented in their own right, with Duncan being a video game designer and Blake creating several ground breaking “digital paintings.”  The couple descended into a paranoid spiral when the artists developed a consuming belief that government and religious organizations were conspiring against them. She killed herself in 2007. Blake found her body on the floor of their bedroom, and walked into the Atlantic Ocean a week later, ending his life.

At the moment Van Sant is only involved as a writer on the film, with no intention of directing. He is currently prepping for a Columbia based film entitled, Restless. It’s a coming of age drama that will star Alice in Wonderland alum, Mia Wasikowska. I can see Van Sant’s signature all over this suicide project. He always finds a way to incorporate himself into films that illustrate some kind of internal corruption.

What do you think of Gus Van Sant writing the screenplay for The Golden Suicides?