It’s just a quick line, but it means a lot to fans of author Joe R. Lansdale: “Currently finishing up THE BOTTOMS screenplay, which Bill Paxton plans to direct,” Lansdale writes on his myspace blog. The Bottoms is Joe R. Lansdale’s most heralded novel, having been awarded the 2000 Edgar Award for Best Novel by the Mystery Writers of America, as well as being a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year”. It was nominated for a Dashiell Hamett award for “Best Novel” and “Best Mystery Novel” by the Macavity Awards.
The book mixes a Depression-era coming-of-age story with nail-biting suspense, as a young East Texas boy comes across the murdered body of a “Negro” prostitute in the woods. As his hometown largely ignores the murder, the boy and his sister become convinced that the murderer is the Goat Man, an urban legend who may prove to be more real than anyone suspects.
This would be Bill Paxton’s third time in the director’s chair, and a welcome return to the Southern Gothic thriller subject matter of his debut film, Frailty. Lansdale is perhaps best known by movie fans as the man, along with writer-director Don Coscarelli, behind the horror-comedy Bubba Ho-Tep. This would mark the second time one of his stories has made it to the big screen, and the first film written solely by him.
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