‘White Noise’ Producer Buys Rights to Don DeLillo’s ‘Americana’ (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Manori Ravindran International Editor Don DeLillo’s debut novel, “Americana,” is set to be adapted 51 years after it was first published. “White Noise” producer Uri Singer (“Tesla,” “The King of Oil”) has bought the rights to the 1971 novel, continuing his streak of adapting a string of DeLillo works that have been deemed “unadaptable.” “Americana” tells the story of David Bell, an out-of-touch television executive who sets off on a road trip with his female colleague, Sullivan, to make an avant-garde film.

The book explores the intricacies of corporate culture and examines how we create realities, whether they are true or not. Singer tells Variety: “When you read ‘Americana,’ you understand how Don developed into the literary icon he is today.

It’s the story of an ‘American Psycho’-type of protagonist, minus the murder, in the toxic and cut-throat world of television, with all the extraordinary minor characters that mark a DeLillo work.

Where ‘American Psycho’ just shows the protagonist as he is, ‘Americana’ shows the questioning of why he is the way he is.” Singer’s team at Passage Pictures is developing what he promises to be a “unique take” on the novel, which the veteran producer describes as “‘American Psycho’ meets ‘Marriage Story.’” The film is believed to use a switch in perspective to maintain the story’s relevance without sacrificing the essence of DeLillo’s prose. “Americana” is the latest DeLillo adaptation for Singer, who is in Venice with Noah Baumbach’s adaptation of “White Noise” for Netflix, which is opening the festival.