Zeroville is a 2007 novel by Steve Erickson on film's upheaval in the 1970s. It has been translated into French , Spanish , Italian , Japanese and other languages. It was named one of the best novels of the year by Newsweek , the Washington Post BookWorld and the Los Angeles Times Book Review among others, and in winter 2008 was one of the five favorite novels of 800 novelists and critics in a poll of the National Book Critics Circle . The novel was also shortlisted for the Believer Book Award .
18-427: It was later adapted into a widely derided film starring James Franco and Seth Rogen . Nicknamed "Vikar," Ike Jerome, a 24-year-old architecture student inspired by the few films he has seen, rides the bus into Hollywood. Jerome is initially portrayed as violent and short tempered, his social ineptitude is slowly revealed as borderline autistic. With a tattoo of Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor as they appear in
36-736: A dozen languages. His books have appeared on best-of-the-year lists by The New York Times , the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post . A "writer's writer," Erickson is regarded as one of America's best living novelists, "a maximal visionary...in the league of [Thomas] Pynchon , [Don] DeLillo , [Margaret] Atwood , [Salman] Rushdie , [Ben] Okri , [Orhan] Pamuk ." His work has been cited by Pynchon, David Foster Wallace , Richard Powers , Dana Spiotta , Neil Gaiman , William Gibson , Kathy Acker , Rick Moody , Joshua Cohen and Mark Z. Danielewski . Greil Marcus has called Erickson "the only authentic American surrealist," and Tours of
54-496: Is a fundamentally misguided -- and descriptively titled -- passion project for its director and star." On Metacritic , the film has a weighted average score of 28 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Peter Debruge of Variety magazine wrote: "Franco has a truly radical streak in him, and considering how poorly the movie functions as a traditional crowdpleaser, he might as well have gone all out and pushed Zeroville to whatever event horizon
72-682: Is an American novelist. The author of influential works such as Days Between Stations , Tours of the Black Clock and Zeroville , he is the recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters award, the Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award and a Guggenheim fellowship . Steve Erickson was born and raised in Los Angeles . For many years his mother, a former actress, ran a small theatre in L.A. His father, who died in 1990,
90-631: The Tate—LaBianca murders , which occurred the same day, Vikar takes a job at Paramount Studios , where he meets film editor Dotty Langer. Dotty senses potential in Vikar and introduces him to a studio executive known only as Viking Man. Vikar and Viking Man attend a Hollywood party, where Vikar meets actress Soledad Paladin, whom he feels he has seen before. When Vikar shows a talent for editing, an eccentric, singing producer named Rondell hires Vikar to edit Soledad's latest film. As Vikar becomes more involved in
108-565: The Black Clock appears on Larry McCaffery 's list of the 20th Century’s Greatest Hits: 100 English-Language Books of Fiction . In a winter 2008 poll by the National Book Critics Circle of 800 novelists and writers, Zeroville was named one of the five favorite novels of the previous year, and in the December 2015 issue of Granta , Jonathan Lethem declared the then unreleased Shadowbahn (perhaps Erickson's most acclaimed work)
126-589: The best American novel of whatever year in which it was ultimately published. In 2021, the University Press of Mississippi issued Conversations With Steve Erickson as part of a series that includes William Faulkner , F. Scott Fitzgerald , Ernest Hemingway , James Baldwin , William S. Burroughs and Toni Morrison , proclaiming Erickson "a subterranean literary figure...[whose] dream-fueled blend of European modernism, American pulp and paranoid late-century postmodernism makes him essential to an appreciation of
144-404: The deranged project called for. His mistake wasn’t trying to adapt Erickson’s novel at all, but attempting to turn it into a tragic romance between Vikar and Soledad." The film was nominated for three Golden Raspberry Awards , James Franco was nominated for Worst Director and Worst Actor, and Seth Rogen was nominated for Worst Supporting Actor. Steve Erickson Stephen Michael Erickson
162-500: The film A Place in the Sun on the back of his head which he keeps shaven, his appearance is anachronistic and jarring to most of the people he encounters in end-of-the-'60s Los Angeles. He gets his first job in the industry as a set builder during which time he meets an aging film editor whom he befriends, and begins a dreamlike journey into the world of films that eventually ends in tragedy and almost horrific discovery. Zeroville discusses
180-529: The film, which includes Seth Rogen , Jacki Weaver , Megan Fox , Will Ferrell , Jamie Costa , Danny McBride , Dave Franco , Craig Robinson , Joey King and Horatio Sanz . The principal photography of the film began on October 24, 2014, in Los Angeles , California . Filming also took place in Pasadena in November. On September 12, 2015, it was announced Alchemy had acquired US distribution rights to
198-482: The film. However, the company filed for bankruptcy, leaving the film without a distributor. In April 2019, it was announced myCinema had acquired distribution rights to the film. It was released on September 20, 2019. The film is considered a box-office bomb . On Rotten Tomatoes , the film has an approval rating of 23% based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 4.1/10. The website's consensus reads, "Potentially an ironic favorite for cult film fans, Zeroville
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#1732873169372216-508: The ghost of Montgomery Clift . A motion picture adaptation of Zeroville starring James Franco and Megan Fox was released in September 2019. Zeroville (film) Zeroville is a 2019 American comedy-drama film directed by James Franco , based on the 2007 novel of the same name by Steve Erickson . The film stars Franco, Megan Fox , Seth Rogen , Joey King , Danny McBride , Craig Robinson and Jacki Weaver . The film
234-403: The industry, he becomes obsessed by the idea of a "secret movie," pieces of which lie hidden inside every film ever made. The film traces Vikar's career over the next decade as he witnesses many significant events in the history of 1970s Hollywood. In March 2011, the novel by Steve Erickson was optioned by actor James Franco for a feature film. On October 24, 2014, the ensemble cast joined
252-585: The last 40 years of American fiction." BBC Radio 4 broadcast an adaptation of Shadowbahn as part of its Dangerous Visions series in 2018, and a motion picture of Zeroville starring James Franco , Seth Rogen and Jacki Weaver was released in 2019. Twice a finalist for the National Magazine Award , Erickson has written for Esquire , Smithsonian , Rolling Stone and the New York Times Magazine among others, and for 14 years
270-427: The movie capital of the world,' Vikar says, 'and nobody knows anything about movies'". Zeroville' s plot is woven with two older stories or myths: the binding of Isaac and the legend of Perceval . Many actors, writers and directors popular in the 1970s make appearances, including Robert De Niro , John Milius , Margot Kidder , Ryan O'Neal , Ali MacGraw , Paul Schrader , Luciano Damiani , Brian De Palma , and
288-429: The supernatural power of films over people and how films become like gods in our worship of them. Vikar's bizarre discovery of a secret movie, found frame by frame in every film ever made, confirms this. Zeroville is partially a critique of the ways movies and Hollywood changed in the 1970s, as the old studios are taken over by young renegade filmmakers. Vikar laments on the disappearance of film from Hollywood: "'I'm in
306-432: Was a photographer. Erickson had a pronounced stutter as a child when teachers believed he couldn't read. This motif occasionally has recurred in novels such as Amnesiascope . At UCLA Erickson studied literature, film, journalism and political philosophy, and for a few years he worked as a freelance writer for alternative weekly newspapers. Along with three works of non-fiction, Erickson has published 10 novels in more than
324-676: Was first announced in March 2011, but did not begin filming until October 2014. Originally set to be released in 2015 or 2016 by Alchemy , the distribution of the project was held off following the company's filing of Chapter 7 bankruptcy . It was eventually picked up by myCinema, and was released on September 20, 2019 in limited theaters, to largely negative reviews. The film was nominated for three Golden Raspberry Awards . A young excommunicated seminarian named Vikar arrives in Los Angeles on August 9, 1969. After briefly being suspected of complicity in
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