Choke is an upcoming black comedy film directed by Clark Gregg and adapted by Gregg from the 2001 novel Choke by Chuck Palahniuk. The film stars Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston. Production took place in New Jersey in 2007. It premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and was purchased by Fox Searchlight Pictures for distribution. The film is scheduled to be released on September 26, 2008.

Premise

In Choke, Victor Mancini (Rockwell) is a sex addict who works as a reenactor of Colonial Times. To support his hospitalized mother (Huston), Victor cons others by intentionally choking at restaurants to get money from his rescuers.


Writing

In April 2001, following the video and DVD success of the film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's book Fight Club, the author sold feature film rights to his then-unpublished book Choke to Bandeira Entertainment under producer Beau Flynn. Flynn optioned Choke on the request of actor Clark Gregg, who had received the book as a writing assignment and became fascinated with Choke's unflinching way of dealing with "the difficult topics of childhood trauma and sexual compulsion in a way that was both painful and hysterically funny". Gregg worked on the book for five years, trying to adapt it faithfully. He decided to write his personal version of the story, believing that it would be one that Chuck Palahniuk would oppose. To Gregg's surprise, the author liked and supported the departures made in Gregg's version. Gregg described the difficulty of writing the script: "It's a tricky adaptation because like a lot of Chuck's work, it operates in a heightened satirical, dark world, yet this one is one of his black romantic comedies, so getting the tone right took me some time."

Filming

Clark Gregg was attached to film Choke in his directorial debut. Production was originally slated for 2006, but Gregg was temporarily occupied with a key role on the TV comedy series The New Adventures of Old Christine. By July 2007, Gregg cast actor Sam Rockwell in the lead role, as well as supporting cast members. Production began in the same month in New Jersey.[1] Filming lasted 25 days with a budget of $3.4 million. A major filming location for Choke was the defunct Essex County Psychiatric Hospital in Cedar Grove. The hospital was considered a critical location by filmmakers, who believed that production would not have taken off without the discovered hospital, due to the project's minimal budget.

As opposed to dark comedies that had a sustained tone, Gregg found Choke to be more tonally complex, and that it would veer between "extremely dramatic moments" and "absurdly silly ones". The director sought to find a way to combine the two elements, drawing inspiration from the Hal Ashby films Harold and Maude (1971) and Being There (1979) and contemporary films like Secretary (2002) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). In addition, the limited budget forced the director to consider economical measures throughout production.

Music

The song "Reckoner" from Radiohead's In Rainbows will be used to play over the film's final credits. Palahniuk had said that the band would be writing the score for the film but a spokesman for the band later said that this was incorrect.

Cast

    * Sam Rockwell as Victor Mancini, a sex addict who cons people in order to fund the care of his hospitalized mother. Clark Gregg had acted with Rockwell in a play, and the director believed that Rockwell would switch effortlessly between the dramatic and comedic moments in the film.
    * Anjelica Huston as Ida Mancini, Victor's mother.
    * Kelly Macdonald as Paige Marshall, a doctor at the hospital where Ida Mancini is staying
    * Brad William Henke as Denny, Victor's best friend and roommate.
    * Gillian Jacobs as Beth / Cherry Daquiri, a stripper who falls for Denny.