Trainspotting Author to Script KNUCKLE Drama Series for HBO

HBO is currently developing a new drama series based on the bare-knuckle documentary film Knuckle. The network has hired Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh, who wrote the book Trainspotting, that Danny Boyle ended up adapting for the big screen.

The documentary from which the series will be adapted follows two fighting Irish families over the course of 12 years as they try to settle a longstanding dispute through bare knuckle brawling. Over the years they call each other out, meet up, and beat the living shit out of each other. It mostly focuses on two brothers, James Quinn and Michael McDonagh. 

I had a chance to see the actual documentary up at the Sundance Film Festival this year, and I loved it. Here is a excerpt from a review written by Ben P.

Most of the film is home video footage (shot by Palmer) of street fights as these families (most of the time cousins or other blood relatives) beat the crap out of each other for reasons unknown to many of them. Each generation grows into fighters ready and willing to battle the other side for family pride and honor, with the victors making VHS video tapes taunting the losing side and ensuring the feud continues for years to come. After the fights, the family gathers to watch the tape and drink at the local pub; it's not just the men watching, either - though the women are portrayed as being above all the violence and not condoning it as much, they can't hide from the camera as they scream their support and get as riled as the rest of them at the outcome of a brawl.

The events in this movie are so ludicrous that they almost don't seem real, but there's something so visceral about this type of violence; it's clear this isn't a stunt. It's fascinating that a segment of the population (small as it may be) lives like this, fighting over things some say go back over fifty years. There's some real Capulet/Montague stuff going down here, and as the movie progresses, we slowly discover part of the reasoning behind the bad blood. The true, real genesis of the hatred - if the memory of it even exists all these years later - is told differently by different people throughout the film, almost like the origins of The Joker's scars in The Dark Knight.

There's no doubt in my mind that this will make for a great series on HBO. There is a lot to work with here. I just hope they can keep it as interesting as the actual documentary.