The film Choke, based on the Chuck Palahniuk novel of the same name, tells the story of a con-man (Sam Rockwell) struggling to pay his mother's (Anjelica Huston) hospital bills. Choke premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and won the Special Jury Prize for work with an ensemble cast.

In the film, first-time director but multi-time actor Clark Gregg (The New Adventures of Old Christine) adapts Chuck Palahniuk's 2001 novel, but unlike the 1999 David Fincher adaptation of Fight Club turns the author's novel into a comedy. Sam Rockwell plays often broke con-man Victor Mancini who just wants to be loved—so, to find this love, he goes to restaurants and fakes choking to death, just so he can be held by a stranger. But he also wants the money of those who save him, in order to pay the hospital bills of his mentally ill mother, played by Anjelica Huston. Victor is also a sex addict, so he attends twelve-step meetings, although he usually spends most of the time in the bathroom with fellow sex-addict Nico (Paz de la Huerta). Throughout it all, Victor's day job is at a restored colonial village for tourists, where Lord High Charlie (played by Gregg) runs the show. When Victor meets new nurse Paige Marshall (Kelly MacDonald) at his mother's hospital, they concoct a plan to save her—a plan which requires frequent coitus in the hospital's chapel.

• Sam Rockwell as Victor Mancini
• Anjelica Huston as Ida Mancini
• Kelly Macdonald as Paige Marshall
• Brad William Henke as Denny

• Empire Movie News: First Still From Choke (December 3, 2007)