Both film and book nerds alike have been watching cult author Chuck Palahniuk‘s every move since Fight Club was released in theaters. While all of his novels are fully capable of becoming both marketable and move theater-friendly, his fourth novel, Choke, has finally seen the light of day past the production floor. With Fox Searchlight having bought the film for $5 million and it winning a Best Ensemble Cast jury award at Sundance, the Choke crew and Palahniuk fans everywhere cannot be more ecstatic about the film’s release date of August 1, 2008.

Although the film is Clark Gregg’s directorial debut, he has certainly been no stranger to the industry nor the project, having gone through numerous obstacles to get his adaptation onto the big screen. His script is so good that even Palahniuk himself has done nothing but award it praise. With Palahniuk’s seal of approval and a lead cast including Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, and Kelly Macdonald, nothing can go wrong, right?

Choke is a story about a sex-addicted medical student named Victor Mancini who pays for his mother’s medical bills by purposely choking to only later extort his heroes for all of their worth. The dark comedy was filmed on location in Vernon, New Jersey in the summer of 2007 for a period of 30 days.

Critics have had nothing other than amazing reviews for the film, leaving fans nothing else but to assume that Palahniuk truly does have the golden touch. Hopefully Choke achieves a success that will jolt the author’s other projects, including Invisible Monsters and Survivor to life.