Daniel Brown chosen to direct film based on Chuck Palahniuk's popular novel 'Survivor'

Daniel Brown, known for directing Your Lucky Day, is set to both write and direct a feature film adaptation of Survivor, Chuck Palahniuks darkly satirical 1999 novel. Production is scheduled to begin in Auckland, New Zealand in early 2026.

The story centers on Tender Branson, the last surviving member of a puritanical cult, as he recounts his journey from obscurity to celebrity while aboard a commercial airplane with no crew left to operate it.

The film will be produced by Ryan Rettig, recognized for Voyage of Time and Last Days in the Desert, and Miles David Romney, known for The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd and the Oscar-nominated Ninety-Five Senses, under the Community Garden banner alongside financier V42. Auckland-based Ground Control, led by Mel Turner and Axel Paton, is also attached to the project.

Worldwide sales will be handled by UTA Independent Film Group in partnership with V42/D Squared Films. This adaptation marks a successful attempt after multiple previous efforts to bring Palahniuks novel to the screen. A 20th Century Fox option in 1999, with Jake Paltrow attached as screenwriter, was shelved following the 9/11 attacks due to the storyline involving a hijacked plane. Filmmaker Francis Lawrence had also previously explored adapting the novel.

Browns previous feature, Your Lucky Day, an action thriller starring the late Angus Cloud, premiered in theaters in November 2023. He is represented by Navigation Media Group, UTA, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.

This will be Palahniuks third novel to be adapted into a film, following Fight Club and Choke. The author, whose body of work includes novels, nonfiction, graphic novels, short stories, and adult coloring books, most recently published Shock Induction in 2024 and is represented by Donadio & Olsen.

Author: Benjamin Carter