Mandalay Pictures would like to make a movie based on the novel “Machine Man” by author Max Barry, only they don’t quite know how it’s going to end. Because, see, the book itself isn’t finished, and as we speak, Barry is putting one up one page from his novel online every day for people to read and make suggestions. Barry, we’re told, will then take suggestions from readers and, possibly, incorporate them as the book is written. Which is either the laziest way to write a novel, or sheer genius, I can’t quite decide. The uncertainty wasn’t enough to deter Mandalay, though, who snapped up the film rights.
“Machine Man” follows concerns a tech engineer who’s tired of going through life as an average and unnoticed nobody, so he does what any of us would do if we were a dork with geeky robot knowledge — he replaces parts of his body with titanium upgrades of his own design. Alas for our hero, he soon discovers that he isn’t the only one with plans for his new body. Can you say, Eeeeeeeeeeeeeevil Government? I’m just guessing, of course.
Vantage Books will publish the finished novel by 2011, then we’ll all be able to demand a cut of the profits. Wait, that’s how it works, right?
This won’t be Barry’s first book to land in Hollywood. One of his previous novels, “Company,” has been optioned by Universal, while another, called “Jennifer Government” was picked up by Warner Bros. with George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh attached in some manner.
Want to read “Machine Man” as Barry writes it? Head over to his official site. As he writes:
“Seriously: I’m making this story up as I go. I didn’t say that just to lower your expectations. It’s a work in progress. I haven’t plotted it out in advance. I write each page a few days before you see it.”
Again, I don’t know if this is the laziest way to write a novel, or pure genius.
Did someone ask for a machine ... man?
