Somewhere
in any top ten list of ‘important’ authors from the past fifty years resides
Don DeLillo. Composer of novels that are somewhere between those of Thomas Pynchon and Philip
Roth, his books tell the story of the 20th and 21st
centuries in a unique, if occasionally long-winded fashion. As dense as his
work is, I’m always surprised by the dearth of DeLillo adaptations on screen; I
still look at the White Noise DVD and have to double-take away from it. Michael Keaton could have delivered such a great take on
Jack Gladney, DeLillo’s fictional Hitler studies professor.

The
era defined by a lack of DeLillo adaptations has just closed, however, as
George Ratliff is set to direct a flick based on the 1972 novel End Zone, with Josh Hartnett,
Sam Rockwell and Kat Dennings in the cast. The script is by Ratliff and David
Gilbert, and like the novel will be set in the football-heavy Southwest.

It’s
Friday and I want to go get a drink, so let’s cut and paste from the trades:

Hartnett
will play a gifted running back who is fumbling his attempts to acclimate to
stardom. Dennings plays a student who captivates the jock. Rockwell plays the
school’s excitable publicist. Yet to be cast is a teacher of international
terrorism and mass destruction who sees the running back as the perfect
soldier/student.

Making
this project more interesting is Hell House and Joshua director George Ratliff.
Devin wondered
about a possible homophobic / evil gay slant in Joshua, while I was consistently
repulsed by the movie in a way that is probably more common to conservative
types who tried to watch Hostel. Whatever feelings Joshua might have evoked,
the acting was superlative throughout, and I’d like to credit some of that to Ratliff.
Since Hartnett isn’t known to be the most expressive guy in the business, this
pairing gets my attention, and Rockwell is icing on the cake.

Shooting is set to begin in February, strikes permitting.