DANGERLION

I know that the list is pretty long already, but I'd add "The ninth gate"and "Brotherhood of the wolf".

On characters with obessions and determination someone else you might want to look at is Fox Mulder, I'd have to have a think on what specific episodes though.

Of the films on the list I'll comment on the ones I've seen.

Contact - I'm not sure how this one fits in tbh

The Prestige - Could well be worth looking at. Deals with obession getting in the way of personnal relationships/what you have to sacrifice for your art.

Silence of the Lambs - Not sure on this one.

The Game - Was one of my suggestions, possibly not the strongest but I think it's an interesting look at what happens to a normal person when their life goes a bit bizzare.

Black Swan - To me this is the closet one in tone on the list. Obessesion, madness, generally fucked up and while some of the motivations are different it could provide a good inspiration. I also really the dual roles the characters have which I think could work really well in this adaptation matching characters with cards.

12 Monkeys - Here there is probably more madness than we want but I think there are some interesting parts. What I like here is how some of the locations in the past are reflections of the ones in the future and that is used to make the audience question the protagonist. Also has Hitchcock referendes in it.

The Searchers - I suggested this one because the Ethan Edwards character is a great example of obessession and ruthless drive, like Herman is in the story. Plus it's John Ford and you can't go wrong with John Ford.

Of the Hitchcock films maybe Marnie and Vertigo are the ones worth looking at here. I would discount The Trouble with Harry for sure as that is more a comedy than anything else.

BOOM! Silence of the Lambs and Contact are on there because the main characters don't change--they're both steadfast in their problem solving approaches. Contact is probably the most obvious one to cut but I don't mind watching good movies in different genres for ideas... plus it's the only Jodie Foster movie the gf can tolerate :)

Have you ever seen I Bury the Living? From 1958, one of my Dramatica ppls recommended it.

She doesn't like "Inside man"?

prestige, shining, serpent/rainbow, the game (this is excellent)

I know I suggested more on the list but these are all top notch. the illusionist is similar to the prestige, came out around the same time, just as cool.

Not seen or heard of "I Bury the Living".

I might consider To Kill a Mockingbird. (very effective narration)

Unforgiven and Cape Fear (Scorsese)

The Hustler is a great psychological character piece.

Do you know the tone you are trying to create? style or substance (Desperado vs Unforgiven)

Is the story going to be driven by dialogue or action? (Glengarry Glenross vs Die Hard)

Will it be actor driven subtle or over the top? (Anthony Hopkins in Remains of the Day or Scilence of the Lambs)

Thanks Katphish. I haven't seen a bunch of those--good excuse to see them now. It's hard to answer those questions well yet, but I see it as suspenseful and character driven and dark and somewhat mysterious.

You could squeeze The Ninth Gate in there.