James Ellroy predicted no more of his books will be adapted into movies in his lifetime. Although his books spawned one great film (L.A. Confidential), one awful film (the Black Dahlia), and one pretty good film (the underseen Cop, with James Woods), a lot of Ellroy adaptations have fallen by the wayside, most notably the adaptation of My Dark Places that was to star David Duchovny, and his novel White Jazz, which Ellroy himself adapted for Nick Nolte, and when that fell apart, George Clooney and John Cusack were attached.
Yet Ellroy's cynical yet moral take on crime and obsession pervades a few movies not directly associated with him. I watched two this week, Zodiac and Hollywoodland.
Another Ellroy-inspired film, Hollywoodland, doesn't work as well, but is still very good. Adrien Brody plays a private eye on the make (so painfully Ellroy derivative) who's scamming George Reeves's mother into questioning whether her son committed suicide as the cops contend, or whether he was murdered. Like Zodiac, it's open-ended, and it features some brilliant acting, especially in the flashbacks which feature Ben Affleck as Superman star Reeves. Brody's not haggard enough to pull off the part, but he does a fine job, as does Diane Lane and uber-gangster Bob Hoskins.
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1 comments:
Agree with you on both counts. I remember watching Zodiac a year or so after it came out and was thoroughly impressed. Fincher turned the film into a great character study.
Also enjoyed Hollywoodland, for many of the same reasons. Though it didn't quite pack the same impact.
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