Idiots in the Machine
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| Author | Edward Savio |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Babelfish Press |
| Released | 2001 |
Idiots in the Machine is a darkly comic 2001 novel by Edward Savio about a man who is inadvertently dragged into the media spotlight. Because he believes wearing tin foil keeps him safe from harmful gamma rays, he becomes a media sensation by marketing a successful line of tin-foil hats to Chicago.
The story is set in the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois. The central character is Noel "Satan" Dorobek, a reclusive near-genius who gets his nickname because he believes there are people living inside the earth and that this was the Eden we were cast out of.
[edit] Notes
Savio was inspired to write Idiots after stumbling upon John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. As Savio notes in his acknowledgement, the first two paragraphs of Idiots are an homage to Toole's opening.
Savio's Noel Dorobek wears tin foil on his head to protect himself from gamma rays.
Idiots in the Machine was actually sold as a movie before it was sold as a novel. Although it is common for film rights to be purchased before publication, Sony Pictures purchased the film rights for Academy Award-winning producer Wendy Finerman four years before the novel was published. Savio has said in interviews that after writing several screenplay versions, he went back and rewrote the novel.
[edit] Film Adaptation
Although purchased by Sony Pictures, no film has yet been made. At one point Chris Farley was rumored for the lead role. The pivotal scene in the novel takes place atop the John Hancock Center, which, ironically, is where Farley was found dead in his apartment on the 60th floor.
