Most people know Daniel Clowes as the writer and artist behind Ghost World, which was adapted into the 2001 film of the same name, but this year he published his first new work in quite some time, which is also incidentally his first standalone graphic novel (the first one that didn’t start off serialized, anyway). Wilson is the story of a divorced and lonely man whose contempt for the world around him comes out in darkly comedic ways. He eventually attempts to reforge a relationship with his ex-wife. It looks like Wilson is headed to the big screen courtesy of Fox Searchlight, and they’ve got their old pal Alexander Payne in mind to direct. Sounds like a pretty good fit, no?

Payne previously worked with Fox Searchlight on Sideways back in 2004, which was also the last feature film he directed. Since then he directed a segment for Paris Je T’aime and the pilot episode of HBO’s Hung, and he’s been trying to set up a couple of other projects as well. This definitely sounds like something that would be in his wheelhouse, although part of me is a little disappointed that Terry Zwigoff didn’t get the call once again.

As for Clowes, he will be writing the screenplay himself, something he has been getting a lot of practice with lately. He also wrote scripts for both Michel Gondry’s Master of Space and Time, based on the Rudy Rucker novel of the same name, and the true story of the kids who made a shot-for-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark, although both currently seem to be stuck in development hell. Has anyone out there read Wilson? Are you looking forward to an Alexander Payne / Daniel Clowes collaboration?