Harvey and Joyce Pekar on American Splendor

"I just go along living my life and write about it as it comes to me," says Harvey Pekar, the 65-year-old creator and subject of cult comic book series 'American Splendor'. First appearing in 1976, his autobiographical stories about daily life in Cleveland - where he worked as a file clerk in a hospital until his retirement in 2001 - have been adapted into a movie starring Paul Giamatti that's been wowing festival audiences from Sundance to Cannes to Edinburgh and is set to be one of 2004's best films.

Taking in everything from a fortuitous meeting with legendary underground comic book artist Robert Crumb (who inspired him to write and illustrated his first stories) to meeting his wife Joyce and being treated for cancer, it's a film that blurs the line between fiction and documentary by having Harvey and Joyce appear as themselves alongside the actors. "The key word used is 'adaptation'," notes Joyce. "It's not like National Geographic came out and shot us in our environment or anything like that."

Despite - or maybe because of - the unconventional nature of Harvey's comics (spandex and super-powers don't feature), a film version has been mooted since the early 1980s by a number of famous figures, including a pre-Silence Of The Lambs Jonathan Demme and, more recently, Leonardo DiCaprio. "Leo is a friend," elaborates Joyce. "We know him through his dad, George DiCaprio, who did some greaser comics that Harvey really admired. He was very interested in supporting this and he introduced us to lots of producers, but the trouble is there's nobody in Cleveland who looks like Leonardo DiCaprio."

Things finally got rolling in 2001 when husband and wife documentary team Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman persuaded US cable TV giants HBO to finance the low budget film. Since its release in America - in keeping with the Pekar's generally gloomy disposition it opened in New York during the city's massive power-cut in August 2003 - Harvey has been keeping busy working on high-profile comic commissions for the likes of the 'New York Times' and 'Entertainment Weekly'. A comic book detailing their movie year is also on the cards "once the dust settles a bit". Given that Harvey rarely fictionalises his stories ("the more accurate it is, the more people can identify with it," he says) it's likely to be a fascinating insight into the filmmaking process. But is there anything he wouldn't write about?

"There are certain things, having to do with familial contact or discord," says Harvey diplomatically.

"He means if it's going to piss me off he doesn't put it in," adds Joyce.

Alistair Harkness