Again with the "self-destructive!'

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on March 16th, 2005

Columbia Pictures has bought the film rights to playwright Seth Greenland’s debut novel The Bones for director David Mamet and producer John Calley, reports Variety.

Greenland will adapt his darkly comic book, which tells the story of Frank Bones, a talented but self-destructive standup comic who reconnects with an old friend who’s become the hottest comedy writer on television.

We received the cover art for Bones, with a nice note from the author, promising to send along the real thing. So far, the ol’ box is empty.

We had hopes (not high hopes, just hopes) that the book wouldn’t beat any cliches into the ground– we’re still affected by Punchline (the worst movie about standup comedy ever… and possibly the worst movie ever)– so we’re still waiting for Hollywood to undo the damage done by that flick. If the press release describes the main standup comic character as “talented but self-destructive,” we might have to wait still longer.