David Foster Wallace's Estate Is Opposed to Forthcoming Biopic
In a news release today, relatives of the late David Foster Wallace said that they are "opposed" to the making of the forthcoming James Ponsoldt-directed biopic of the author, which stars Jason Segel as Wallace and is titled The End of the Tour.
The film is based on David Lipsky's 2010 book, Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace.
Lawyers for Wallace's family and literary trust said in a news release Monday that they "have no connection with, and neither endorse nor support" the film.
They add that "the trust was given no advance notice that this production was underway" and the film "is loosely based on transcripts from an interview David consented to 18 years ago for a magazine article. ... That article was never published and David would have never agreed that those saved transcripts could later be repurposed as the basis of a movie."
The End of the Tour, which also stars Jesse Eisenberg, has not yet gotten a release date. Wallace's estate, as they say in the statement, prefer that the Infinite Jest author be "remembered for his extraordinary writing."
