A documentary based on Salman Rushdie’s memoir Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder is in the works, Variety reports.
Rushdie’s book, published in April by Random House, is his account of the 2022 stabbing attack in Chautauqua, New York, that nearly killed him. The legendary author of Midnight’s Childrenand The Satanic Verses lost the vision in one eye and the use of one hand after the assault.
In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus praised the memoir as “a graceful meditation on life and death that captures Rushdie at his most observant and lyrical.”
The adaptation will be directed by Alex Gibney, the acclaimed and prolific Oscar-winning documentarian behind films including Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room; Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief; and The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley.
The documentary will contain footage shot by Rushdie’s wife, writer and artist Rachel Eliza Griffiths, as well as interviews and archival photographs.
“I’m delighted we have Alex working with us on this film,” Rushdie said. “We have long admired his brilliant work, from Taxi to the Dark Side and Going Clear to his recent portrait of Paul Simon. There couldn’t be a better person for the job.”
Gibney said it was “a delight and an honor” to work on the documentary.
“The opportunity to make this film about his recovery—in the broadest sense of the term—comes at a critical time,” he said. “It gives me hope.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
