Don't 'Choke' on this

Uncontrolled lust, lost faith, childhood trauma, mad addictions, bizarre fantasies and blockages both emotionally and literally, second chances, redemptive moments and true love — 'Choke' is basically about modern life.

"Everything we do is an attempt to fool people into loving us or wanting us, and so my characters are really no different from ordinary people," explains Chuck Palahniuk, who wrote the novel on which this new film is based.

The author's 'Choke' is an amped-up, relentlessly satirical look at sex, work, identity and bottomless yearning in contemporary America. Much like his earlier novel, 'Fight Club', which sparked a cult phenomenon and became a critically acclaimed hit movie starring Brad Pitt, 'Choke' is a story that blasts through one taboo after the next. It tackles bad parenting and degenerate sex, consumerism and addiction, Colonial history and holy relics, medical horrors and blatant con games, an adult sense of failure and the freaky transcendent power of love.

Like its self-asphyxiating main character, Victor Mancini, the book was all about people getting stuck . . . and suddenly dislodged from the patterns of their pasts.

Most shied away from its tricky tone and uninhibited themes, but filmmaking newcomer and actor Clark Gregg was intrigued by the manuscript for 'Choke' and driven to try to adapt the book. Not only that, he had his own daring and unlikely vision for the movie version of 'Choke': as a wicked, Palahniuk-style twist on that age-old genre, the romantic comedy.

"I had never read anything so painful and yet also so funny," Gregg says of the novel. "I know Chuck is usually seen as this dark, nihilistic writer but I saw more than that in Choke'. I felt the story was actually very hopeful and romantic, in its own perverse, post-modern way."

He continues: "Palahniuk's got so many clever, brilliant, satirical ideas and his finger on the pulse of what works and what doesn’t work in this country. For me, the book hit that chord where I thought 'I have to make this; nobody's going to let me do this but I've got to find a way.'"

But Gregg, who wrote the screenplay for Harrison Ford hit 'What Lies Beneath', had never directed a feature film before and he knew he might be a little crazy to attempt his first outing with such provocative material.

He began by getting Palahniuk's blessing. "Chuck was very patient because it took me a year and a half, two years maybe, and a couple of drafts before I could really get a handle on taking this surreal, satirical world from the page to the more three-dimensional realm of a movie," Gregg recalls.

And the producers were willing to take a major gamble on a first-time director tackling high-risk material. "He was extremely articulate and passionate about the project," said "A lot of independent movies are about taking a bet on the director,” offers South African born producer Johnathan Dorfman of Gregg. "He had a very full vision of how to approach this material early on, talking about how he was going to balance the comedy with the poignancy.

"Most of all, we knew that this film ran the risk of trying to exist in the shadow of David Fincher’s style on 'Fight Club', and we were very pleased that Clark said: 'No, I'm going to try something quite different.' The film was a very intense crash course in filmmaking for him but he is very astute and we were right behind him the whole way."

When it came time to casting, the filmmakers knew everything would hinge on finding actors who could nail the right tone. The most important was an actor who would be completely fearless in the role of the rather flagrantly flawed Victor Mancini. He had to be willing to be eccentric, neurotic, needy, lusty, manipulative and disillusioned. At the same time he also needed to be charming, funny, heartbreakingly vulnerable and able to fall headlong not only into unexpected love but into a radically different view of who he might be in life. In other words, he had to be a devilish soul with the potential for redemption.

To fill this bill, Clark Gregg right away thought of Sam Rockwell, with whom he had worked in a play many years ago.

"I think Sam’s one of the few people working in movies in America today who can blend fully committed drama with totally absurdist comedy," says the director.

Palahniuk was equally pleased with the casting. "As soon as they said Sam Rockwell, it just seemed perfect because he is funny and he also has a fantastic vulnerable quality.

Rockwell responded to the script instantly. "I thought it was really unique among screenplays I’ve read and I also thought that Clark did a great job capturing that very specific and unusual Chuck Palahniuk tone, which is kind of like Ken Kesey meets John Irving," says the actor.

Most of all Rockwell couldn't resist the idea of trying to embody Victor with all his massive foibles, rampant sex addiction and highly unlikely destiny as the messiah of a private mental hospital.

"He's a real piece of work, but I like that his story is about a man trying somehow to become an adult and that it’s a love story, too — a love story that creeps up on you."

To get deeper into the role, Rockwell confesses that he attended a number of real-life twelve-step sex addiction meetings. Rockwell also had to learn another rare art he never expected to take on: choking on demand. Rockwell used soft pieces of watermelon in place of such items as sushi for his choking scenes, but those on the set were still stunned by just how far he was willing to go. "Right from the very first choke, he just went for it," recalls producer Johnathan Dorfrman of the dramatic asphyxiations. "We were all ready to do the Heimlich."

Far less taxing for Rockwell were his scenes with Anjelica Huston in the role of Victor’s highly complicated and less than forthcoming mother, Ida.

Chuck Palahniuk describes Ida as "someone who has been so concerned with tearing things down, she never has had the power to actually create anything, to really even create herself" — and Clark Gregg knew that Huston would be unafraid to explore that with honesty.

"I read the script and I found it very off-the-wall and wild and also very amusing and when I read it again, I liked it better and better," recalls Huston. "And by the third go-round I thought: 'I obviously have to make this movie.'"

Says Palahniuk himself: "Here is a spot-on, instant classic. Like 'The Graduate' or 'Harold & Maude', Clark Gregg's work is funny and tragic at the same time. I could not be happier with this film."

Throughout the production and right through to the end, Palahniuk remained a big supporter, spending time on the set and supporting the film at its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. "He was the nicest, sweetest man and his presence was very, very encouraging," says Dorfman.

For Clark Gregg, having Palahniuk around so much kept him constantly in mind of the inspiration for the film: his original gut reaction to the novel. Gregg concludes: "I feel like everybody in 'Choke' are all people who are damaged, yet have a lot of love to give and are trying to figure out a way to do that — but definitely not in the usual ways."

To celebrate the launch of this unusual film we're giving away 'Fight Club' on DVD and the novel of 'Choke'. Simply answer this question to stand a chance of winning: