Gus Van Sant is set to direct Tom Wolfe's novel The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com) with Lance Black adapting the novel to a script.

The story is described as one of the most compelling and accurate looks at the sixties through the eyes of the author and his friends in a group called the Merry Pranksters. They set out on a cross-country road trip in a psychedelically painted bus travelling from California to New York to see the World's Fair in 1964. On the trip they seemed to partake in a large amount of LSD.

The story from Variety suggests that Wolfe won't be the central character but it might be the leader of the group Ken Kesey, the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com).

A look back to the trippy and drug fuelled times of the sixties? Could this work on film just now? Is it something that an audience would want to see, even with Gus Van Sant's talent? I'm not so sure, not if the story is just that. It seems though that the novel is a very accurate and engaging look at the times, so perhaps there's something in there that could translate to the screen and work. I'm not so sure that the audience would be interested in a straight drug fuelled sixties film though.