Lawrence circles Palahniuk's 'Survivor'

I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence will helm an adaptation of Chuck Palahniuck's novel Survivor for his next film.

Twentieth Century Fox initially planned to bring the book to the screen in 1999, but shelved the project following the September 11 attacks. The novel opens with an airplane hijacker telling his life story to a black box recorder.

Palahniuk explained: "David Fincher (director of Fight Club) was really pushing [Fox] in their development and they'd gotten Jake Paltrow - Gwyneth's brother - to write a screenplay and people were very happy with that.

"They'd started to cast it but then 9/11 happened and that seemed to harpoon all kinds of transgressive comedies."

The author confirmed that Lawrence will make the adaptation "this year or early next year".

"[He] has the option, he's written the screenplay and has said several times that it's going to be his project after I Am Legend," he said.

Despite the popularity of his novels with Hollywood producers, Palahniuk told DS that he wants his latest novel Snuff, about a porn actress attempting to sleep with 600 men in one day, to be remade for the theatre.

"I kind of wrote Snuff with the idea that it might eventually be a stage play," he said. "By keeping the number of settings and the number of characters really limited, it seemed like the situation would be perfect for a play."

> Palahniuk keen on 'Fight Club' musical