In 2016, author Mark Manson released a self-help book with an incredibly eye-catching title.
Now he's hoping that movie-goers will find themselves similarly drawn to said title.
The book isn't as nihilistic as the title implies, it's less about ignoring everything in your life, but more that we only have a limited number of f***s to give, so spend them wisely.
After release, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*** quickly turned into a worldwide phenomenon, most recently making headlines when Democratic politician Katie Porter was seen reading the book during one of many votes for the speaker in the House of Representatives.
The idea for an adaptation of the book has been thrown around for years, Manson stated that he was approached about everything from reality series to sitcoms adapting the book's ideas.
Kiwi producer Matt Metcalfe was intrigued seeing a copy of the book in a small store in Fiji which made him reflect on the book's reach and figured it would make for a great film.
It was the idea of how personal the story was for Manson that appealed to Metcalfe.
"That's really where it started from, for me at least, the understand that the book was really someone's personal journey and if you were going to bring it to the screen you had to tell that personal journey."
Originally set to be shot in New York, filming changed to New Zealand due to the pandemic. Mark was able to get a slot in managed isolation and spent four months in the country becoming involved in the post-production process, which he ultimately credits with making the film better.
The film could best be described as a visual audiobook, it consists of Mark narrating through the same ideas the book covers, divided into chapters. This is cut together with some archival footage which further illustrates said talking points.
The film is playing in a very limited theatrical engagement from Wednesday January 11, information can be found at subtleartmovie.com.
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