Art Spiegelman has no interest in selling the screen rights to his graphic memoir Maus, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Interest in Spiegelman’s two-volume book about his parents’ experiences as Holocaust survivors peaked this year after it was banned by a Tennessee school district, which cited its use of profanity and drawings of nude figures. The move sparked widespread outrage around the country.
The controversy caused the book, originally published in 1986 and 1991, to rocket up bestseller lists. As of Thursday afternoon, various editions of the book were listed as out of stock on Amazon’s and Barnes and Noble’s websites.
“I like movies, but Maus is better served as a book,” Spiegelman told the Reporter. “[It’s a] more intimate form and comics adhere to the brain better.”
In the second volume of Maus, Spiegelman refers to the success of the first volume, saying, “At least fifteen foreign editions are coming out. I’ve gotten 4 serious offers to turn my book into a t.v. special or movie (I don’t wanna).”
Interest in the book remains high, however. A young people’s activist group has announced plans to distribute it to students in Tennessee, and comic book store owners say they will send free copies to students in the county where it was banned.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
