"American Psycho" author goes back to school

By Carly Mayberry

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "American Psycho" author Bret Easton Ellis has signed on to adapt the novel "Downers Grove" for the big screen.

The independently financed project centers on a paranoid high school senior for whom graduating has become a matter of life or death. The novel was published in 1999 by Michael Hornburg. His first novel, "Bongwater," was turned into a movie in 1997, starring Luke Wilson and Alicia Witt.

Ellis, whose novels "American Psycho," "The Rules of Attraction" and "Less Than Zero" have been adapted for the big screen, has his sixth novel, "Lunar Park," in development as a feature film with Palm Star Pictures.

His novel "The Informers," which inspired the film adaptation starring Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger and Brandon Routh, just wrapped production.

Ellis also wrote the screenplay for the upcoming "The Frog King," which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Writer-director Roger Avary also is developing Ellis' novel "Glamorama."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter