White Jazz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| White Jazz | |
 First edition cover |
|
| Author | James Ellroy |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Jacket design by Chip Kidd Front–of–jacket photograph by Robert Morrow |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | L.A. Quartet |
| Genre(s) | Novel, crime fiction |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
| Publication date | September 1, 1992 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback), audio cassette, and audio download |
| Pages | 349 pp (first edition, hardcover) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-679-41449-3 (first edition, hardcover) |
| Preceded by | L.A. Confidential |
White Jazz is a 1992 crime fiction novel by James Ellroy. It is the fourth in his L.A. Quartet, preceded by The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, and L.A. Confidential.
Lieutenant David Klein is a veteran policeman who moonlights as a hitman for organized crime. When he is assigned to investigate a robbery at the home of the LAPD's sanctioned heroin dealer, he uncovers a plot to bring city's crime syndicates into collusion with the channels of justice.
The stories of many characters that appeared in earlier L.A. Quartet novels, including Edmund Exley and Dudley Smith, have their ends tied up in White Jazz, which also introduces Pete Bondurant, one of the central characters in Ellroy's "American Underworld" novels.
Contents |
[edit] Film adaptation
The film adaptation is to be directed by Joe Carnahan for a 2009 release. Matthew Michael Carnahan wrote the screenplay.
[edit] History
James Ellroy completed a draft of a 131-page screenplay on October 31, 1997. In 1998, cinematographer Robert Richardson signed on for what would have been his directorial debut with Fine Line Features distributing. They put the project into turnaround in early 1999 due to budgetary concerns.[1] In early December 2001, it was reported that "German-based VIF Intl. Films had come aboard to finance White Jazz, co-producing with Nick Nolte's Kingsgate Films and L.A.-based production company Interlight. Nolte and John Cusack were set to star in the film, with Winona Ryder reportedly in discussions to join them. Nolte was to play Klein, Cusack to play Junior Stemmons and Ryder to play Hollywood starlet Glenda. Uma Thurman was also attached to the project at one point and was to play Glenda.[2] The screenplay was written by Ellroy and Christopher Cleveland. After the demise of the project, Richardson said "That's why directors go absolutely crazy – the development of a project is highly unpredictable and doesn't make tremendous sense. It may happen, but not in my time frame."[3]
[edit] Current production
On November 30, 2006, it was reported that George Clooney was set to star in a newly green-lighted film adaptation of the novel for Warner Independent Pictures.[4] Clooney is also on board as producer along with his Smoke House partner Grant Heslov. The film is to be written by Matthew Michael Carnahan and directed by his brother Joe Carnahan. Both Jason Bateman and Peter Berg have signed on to appear in the film.[5] The script changes the Armenian Kafesjian family in the novel to the Mexican Magdalena family.[6] Joe Carnahan said this of his brother's script, "It’s, to me, what that book always was – the point of departure from the Eisenhower 50s to the psychedelic freakshow, Manson 60s. It’s a total combination of the two with a heavy, heavy voice-over narration, this kind of classic noir."[7] Carnahan has also confirmed that the characters of Ed Exley and Dudley Smith will not be in the film version despite their presence in the book,[8] as Regency Productions has its own plans for a sequel to L.A. Confidential[9] and asked the director to remove Exley from his screenplay as they own the rights to the character.[10] Instead, the Carnahans have constructed a "doppelganger" for Exley, "giving him all of [his] traits and speech patterns."[11]
Carnahan described his vision of White Jazz as reflecting the "kind of mid-century explosion of art and music, and really letting that be the kind of guiding force behind it, as opposed to making it like this ... all 'period suits'. I really want to try to make it as accurate a reflection of L.A. at that moment in time as I can."[12] He also commented on George Clooney's willingness to play an unlikable character for the first time. "He's made that very clear to me: 'I have no other desire than to play what's in that script.' And what's in that script is a pretty despicable guy at times, and pretty nefarious and nasty and selfish."[12] Carnahan also touched upon how he trimmed down the novel's numerous subplots because "I always thought that as much as I love White Jazz, it became almost unfilmable at some point, because there are so many strands, so much, and it became so psychotic ... that's what made it such a great book, but those things would not carry over into the filmic realm, I thought, with ease."[12]
Clooney has since dropped out of starring in the film due to scheduling conflicts with other projects.[13] Chris Pine, who was also up for a role in the film, decided to take on the role of James T. Kirk in J.J. Abrams' upcoming Star Trek film.[13] Carnahan has stated that he will still make the film and has "a couple of options in terms of other actors that I am completely over the moon for."[13]
Carnahan has completed the last draft of the screenplay.[11]
[edit] References
- ^ "The Stax Report: Script Review of White Jazz", IGN, July 8, 2003. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
- ^ "Carnahan Talks White Jazz", IGN, October 30, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
- ^ "The Stax Report: Script Review of White Jazz", IGN, July 8, 2003. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
- ^ Goldsmith, Jill. "Clooney finds partners in crime", Variety, November 29, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
- ^ "Bateman Joins Clooney in "White Jazz"", Worst Previews, January 17, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
- ^ "Carnahan Talks White Jazz", IGN, October 30, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
- ^ Faraci, Devin. "James Ellroy is Getting Narc-ed", Chud.com, October 29, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
- ^ Carnahan, Joe. "Q & As", Joe Carnahan's Official Website, December 21, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
- ^ "LA Confidential Sparks Two Sequels", Internet Movie Database, March 2, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
- ^ Carnahan, Joe. "White Jazz vs. L.A. Confidential 2", Joe Carnahan's Official Website, March 1, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
- ^ a b Carnahan, Joe. "White Jazz Update", Smokin' Joe Carnahan, June 29, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
- ^ a b c Stewart, Ryan. "Interview: Smokin' Joe Carnahan Talks to Cinematical About Ramping Up White Jazz, Pablo Escobar and Why 'Bunny' Went Missing", Cinematical, April 6, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
- ^ a b c Abramowitz, Rachel. "Gosling and Clooney drop projects", Los Angeles Times, October 23, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-23.
[edit] External links
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
This article about a crime novel is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
