WHEN YOUR PROTAGONIST BECOMES REAL

Happy Monday, everyone.  It's Alafair Burke here.  It's my pleasure today to welcome guest blogger April Smith, whose beloved Ana Grey series is being adapted as a televised movie by TNT.  She was kind enough to write about that experience for Murderati.  In April's own words:

We all carry fantasies of the day Hollywood will shine its beacons of money and fame on our poor shambling protagonist  and she will be transformed from a lifetime of knocking on doors and laboriously piecing clues together, to a brilliant larger-than-life-but-still-true-to-your-vision sensation. 

“Who do you want to play Ana Grey?” fans tweeted with great excitement when TNT announced it was going to film GOOD MORNING, KILLER as part of its new Mystery Night Movie franchise of two-hour TV movies based on mystery/thrillers.  Sure, I had files bursting with actresses from multiple attempts to bring Ana to the screen, but it had taken so many years to actually get the green light, the names were hopelessly out of date.  They had either passed the industry age limit on females for starring roles  (44, except for Helen Mirren) or had been plastic surgeried beyond recognition (except for Helen Mirren).

FBI Special Agent Ana Grey first appeared in NORTH OF MONTANA in 1994.  At the time, the idea of a half-Hispanic, half-Caucasian female FBI agent as the mainstay of a thriller was threatening.   I was advised by well-meaning supporters that if I wanted my books to sell to film, I should create another mystery series featuring a male protagonist.  Few actresses are powerful enough to “open” a movie, and worse, according to Hollywood savants, the character of Ana Grey was simply not castable, because there were not enough skilled, big-name Hispanic actresses to fill the role.   At the time it was unthinkably un-PC to cast an ethnic person of the wrong persuasion to play another ethnicity.  This never made sense to me (Australian theater’s beloved Robyn Nevin is about to play King Lear), but so it remained for seventeen years.

When TNT cast Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander in Muderati blogger Tess Gerritsen’s Rizzoli and Isles, it was clear they had already created a hit.  They know their brand.  So when I learned the network was wild about Catherine Bell to play Ana Grey, I had a good feeling, probably for the first time in thirty years in television.  I had written the teleplay and was executive producer as well as the author – a lot at stake.  Catherine was very impressive in JAG and ARMY WIVES, but because everything was moving so fast in pre-production, there was no opportunity to meet her before we began shooting.   

Catherine Bell (FBI Special Agent Ana Grey) and William Devane (who plays her grandfather, Poppy)

The first time I saw my leading lady was at a funky production office tucked away in a shipyard in Vancouver, B.C..  “Catherine’s arrived,” everyone whispered, and there she was in a tee shirt and jeans, just off the plane after traveling with her one-year-old; tall, lithe, beautiful, with huge empathetic eyes and tousled dark hair, ethnically ambiguous (Catherine is actually half Persian), strength, leadership, and kindness just radiating.  We hugged as if we’d known each other forever.  Eighteen years later, Ana Grey was born again.

We are now editing the film, and I can tell you Catherine’s performance is terrific. Pitch-perfect, as far as I’m concerned.  But I’d love to know what you think. GOOD MORNING, KILLER airs on TNT Tuesday night, December 13 at 9 PM.  Contact me at www.aprilsmith.net  For the full lineup of TNT Mystery Night Movies go to http://www.tnt.tv/title/display/?oid=146349.

April on the movie set

It's Alafair again.  Thank you so much, April, for sharing your experience with the Murderati gang. 

April's most recent Ana Grey novel, WHITE SHOTGUN, recently launched to rave reviews from People, the LA Times, Booklist, and on and on.  In his substantial review exclusively for Amazon, Robert Crais said, "Let’s cut to the chase: I love Smith’s work. She is one of the finest, smartest, most gifted writers working in crime fiction today, and White Shotgun is her best novel since the justifiably celebrated NORTH OF MONTANA. ... This is the real deal."

Please join me in welcoming and congratulating April.  We can't wait to watch the movie and read what you write next!

Great Expectations, or, Let Me Take You To the Movies II

by J.D. Rhoades

This past weekend, I finally got around to seeing THE KILLER INSIDE ME, in which Casey Affleck starred as Jim Thompson’s sociopathic sheriff Lou Ford. Not only that, I got to see it on the brand spanking new Blu-Ray player I’d gotten for my birthday (thanks, hon!).

Seeing the movie  reminded me that I’d written about it back in June as one of the films I’d been looking forward to seeing over the summer. Well, you know how it is. Best laid plans an all that. But I did end up seeing it, as well as most of the other ones on the list. I went back and looked at that June 2 post, just  to see...how did my expecatations hold up?

THE KILLER INSIDE ME

What I said at the time: I didn't think Affleck could pull off Patrick Kenzie in GONE BABY GONE, but damned if he didn't do it, and I do love me some Jim Thompson. And it's got Jessica Alba, apparently getting nekkid. So this one's on my list.

    Yes, Jessica does get nekkid, as does Kate Hudson, and they both get way kinky with Casey Affleck. It was a pretty faithful adaptation of Thompson’s book, which means it was dark, twisted, nasty, and one should not expect anything even close to a happy ending. Some of the violence was difficult to watch, but then, it was supposed to be. The people who decried the movie for its portrayal of violence against women were, I think, missing the point. Yes, it was ugly. Ford is an ugly character who does ugly things.

So how did I like it? Well, I reacted to it the way I do to Thompson on the page: I was horrified, but couldn’t look away. My only complaint was Affleck’s high, grating Texas twang, which came close to sounding whiny.

WINTER'S BONE:

What I said at the time: Oh boy oh boy oh boy. I cannot wait for this movie. I don't know anything about the director or any of the near-unknowns starring in it, but  Daniel Woodrell's book was as dark and brutal a slice of redneck noir as you'll find anywhere. I definitely wouldn't recommend it as a light and frothy date movie.

       This movie was freakin' awesome, from the Oscar-worthy performances of Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes, to the absolutely note-perfect re-creation of the lives of the desperate and dirt-poor in the rural South. No, definitely not a light and frothy date movie, but the distilled essence of redenck noir. Riveting. 


PREDATORS

What I said at the time:  Why? Why does this this movie exist? What was wrong with the original (the only movie to star two future state governors) that someone felt it needed to be remade? Is there any way Adrian Brody can pull off deathless lines like "If eet bleeds, ve can kill eet" and "GET TO DA CHOPPAAAH!" with the same panache as the Governator? We think not.

Okay, Adrian Brody’s no Ahnuld, and no one in the band of killers dropped onto the Predator Planet to provide sport for the dreadlocked aliens possesses  the sheer badassery of Jesse Ventura or even Bill Duke (although the always wonderful Danny Trejo comes close, he’s out of the move far too soon). No fall-on-the-floor funny lines like the ones in the original, although there are some sly references to other movies sprinkled throughout. Still, all in all, a decent action flick, and better than I expected.

GET HIM TO THE GREEK

What I said at the time: Looks an awful lot like a rip-off of the 1982 film MY FAVORITE YEAR, another movie about a hapless underling trying to keep a wacked out, substance-abusing  star together long enough to make the big show. Russell Brand plays the Peter O'Toole role in the update, and while Brand's no O'Toole, he's still pretty damn funny, as is Jonah Hill. A definite maybe.

I laughed. Sometimes I laughed hard. The leads did not disappoint, and some of the send-ups of rock-star excess were a scream, like Brand’s disastrous “African Child” video, which one magazine called “the worst thing to happen to Africa since apartheid.” And who  the hell knew that Sean Combs/Puff Daddy/P. Diddy/whatever could be so funny? I walked around for days singing “stroke the furry wall...”

THE EXPENDABLES

What I said at the time: How could this possibly go wrong? Well, plenty of ways actually.  It could be a mess. It could also be the most brain-meltingly awesome movie ever. I have got to be there to find out.

Not a disaster, but not brain-meltingly awesome, either. Mostly Stallone, with a little Statham, while the other action stars weren't’ really given enough chance to shine, especially Jet li, who was just wasted here. Competent, but disappointing considering its potential.

So what have you read/seen/listened to in the past few months that either exceeded or disappointed your expectations? 

The Golden Globes

by Alafair Burke

Some TV events have to be viewed with a group: the Super Bowl, big series finales, political debates, and award ceremonies.  Last night, I watched the Golden Globe Awards with a group of friends.

After several years of falling very behind on movies, I am somewhat in the loop this year, thanks to a Saturday morning matinee routine with fellow author and neighbor Jonathan Hayes.  As such, I can actually follow what's going on this award season.

Here are a few (somewhat random) thoughts about last night's winners, losers, and bystanders.

The Host: Anyone who's seen Ricky Gervais in The (original) Office and the sublime Extras knows he is the master of delicious awkwardness.  His jokes at the expense of Scientology and the Tourist really kicked things off on the most uncomfortable note possible.  I have to admire someone who doesn't mind being hated by his audience in the name of comedy.

TV:

Best supporting actor: Chris Colfer from GLEE.  Loved his speech; would've been even better if he sang it.  (More seriously, times really have changed.  Bravo, world!)

Best actor (drama): If only Brian Cranston and Michael C. Hall could have won as well, but I do love me some Steve Buscemi.

Best actor (comedy): I am the only person in America who has never seen Big Bang Theory, so I could only groan when some guy who looked like a baby Alien beat Alec Baldwin.

Best TV comedy: Glee won but should not have in light of its weak second season and tough competition from 30 Rock and Modern Family in this category.  (Big Bang Theory and The Big C were the other nominees.)

Best TV drama: The absence of Breaking Bad was a robbery.  Dexter, even after the slow start, probably still deserved to win in this category, but Boardwalk Empire can use the boost.

Movies:

Best supporting actor: The Fighter is one of the only buzz-y films I haven't seen yet, plus Christian Bale strikes me as a nutjob, so I have a hard time cheering for him.  I was pulling hard for Jeremy Renner, but THE TOWN seems destined to lose in every category, even though it was one of my favorite films of the year.  (I suspect it has something to do with Ben Affleck's Gigl.)  I do love Melissa Leo, though, so was happy to see her win (but Helena Bonhan's Carter "WTF" look at the end of Leo's acceptance speech was absolutely classic - did you catch it?).

Best Animated Movie: Toy Story 3 was a no-brainer.  Such a wonderful story, my husband and I still can't believe it was rated G.  It was one of the darkest movies of the year.

Best Actress (Comedy): I thought Julianne Moore was more deserving to be nominated for this award than Annette Bening, but was happy to see her recognized.  Robert Downey Jr. shoud get an award for best presenter.  So should Tina Fey and Steve Carell.

I love Matt Damon dearly, but his tribute to Robert DeNiro was almost as uncomfortable as the Ricky Gervais bits, and not intentionally.  And then Robert DeNiro turned up the discomfort volume to a 10.  Whatever happened to earnestness?

Best Actress (Drama) - Natalie Portman, no surprise.  Baby bump, an added bonus.  And best speech of the night.

Best Film (Comedy or Musical) - The Kids Are All Right, a bit of a slam dunk in light of the other nominees (Red, Burlesque (yes, really), Alice in Wonderland, and The Tourist)

Best Film (Drama):I went in feeling torn between The King's Speech and The Social Network.  Both took potentially dry subjects and transformed them into gripping drama.  Ultimately, though, my fondness for The Social Network is primarily due to Aaron Sorkin's fantastic screenplay (which did win - yea!), so I pulled for The King's Speech. But when Social Network won, I defended it to the many critics in our room.  Best line of the year: "I'm 6'5", 220, and there's two of me."

The (even more) wholly superficial:

Nicole Kidman - What has she done to her face to make herself look so much like Renee Zellweger?

Kelly green dresses- I lost count but I saw at least four just on the red carpet, including on Angelina Jolie (who seemed eerily clingy with Brad Pitt; I suspect tabloids will be conjecturing). 

Tina Fey - I'm amazed that she still manages to rock that nerdy-and-only-secretly-attractive persona even as she's transformed herself into such a gorgeous superstar.

If mutliple marriages were legal, my husband would have to learn to be brother-husbands with James Franco, Mark Wahlberg, and Robert Downey Jr. (with drug testing).

(Most Of) The Other Awards:

Best Actress in TV drama - Katey Segal (Sons of Anarchy), over Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife), Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), Piper Perabo (Covert Affairs), and Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer).

Best Actress in TV comedy - Laura Linney (The Big C), over Toni Collette (United States of Tara), Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie), Tina Fey (30 Rock), and Lea Michele (Glee).

Best Actor (film comedy) - Paul Giamatti (Barney's Version), over Jake Gyllenhaal (Taylor Swift, I mean, Love and Other Drugs), Johnny Depp (times two), Kevin Spacey (Casino Jack - never heard of it).

Best Actor (drama): We had a generational divide in our group between Colin Firth and Jesse Eisenberg.  Colin Firth takes it (and was suprisingly funny)!

Best Director:  David Fincher (The Social Network), over Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), Tom Hooper (The King's Speech), Christopher Nolan (Inception), and David Russell (The Fighter).  Still no clue as to why TRUE GRIT was locked out of everything, because I think it was probably the best film of the year.

My apologies to our regular readers who are wholly uninterested in the Golden Globes.  We'll be back to our regular programming tomorrow.  As for the rest of you, what were your most memorable moments of the Golden Globes or this year's movie and TV seasons?

Spin Offs

by J.D. Rhoades

So I'm looking through my page of bookmarked entertainment sites, scoping out the latest movie news, when what to my wandering eyes should appear but a story about an upcoming project from Judd Apatow. Apatow, in my opinion, is responsible for some of the funniest movies in the last decade, movies like  ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY, THE 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN, SUPERBAD, and KNOCKED UP. (Comedy being as subjective as it is, you may not agree;  in fact you may hate Apatow’s work like I hate beets, but but bear with me, this is just the background).

      Anyway, KNOCKED UP is one of those movies  I’ll watch over and over, and laugh every time. (Which is a good thing,  because it seems to be on TV constantly these days). So I was quite tickled to see that Apatow was planning another movie, set in the same fictional world, but this time featuring two supporting characters from KU,  Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann, aka Mrs. Apatow). It was not, Apatow was careful to say, a sequel. It was,  instead, a spin-off.

       While cogitating over  this news, I glanced over to the rapidly diminishing pile of the books I got for Christmas, and saw that the top one was Robert Crais’ THE FIRST RULE, the second in Crais’ books about Joe Pike,  the bad-ass sidekick of his franchise hero, Elvis Cole. In other words, another spin-off.

So this is why today, we’re going to be talking about spin-offs. (This has also been your glimpse for today into the lopsided, rusty, sprung  Pachinko machine that is my creative process).

       A spin-off is a book, series, or movie in which a supporting character from one  work gets to take center stage and tell his or her own story in another. It’s an old tradition; in fact, you could argue that THE ODYSSEY is a spin-off, being the tale of Odysseus,  who's basically a supporting player in THE ILIAD.

    Some of my favorite books are spin-offs:

• Twain’s THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN is, of course, spun off from THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER (and is, to my mind, a much better book).
• HUCKLEBERRY FINN has its own spin-off by another author, Jon Clinch’s FINN, which retells the events of Huck’s story from the perspective of his drunken,  brutal father, known only as Pap. Let me tell you, as bad as Pap was in the original, he’s truly horrific in FINN, but Clinch is such a gifted  writer, he makes you care about the old monster.
• Speaking of monsters,  John Gardner’s GRENDEL tells the Beowulf story from the perspective of the doomed slayer of the Danes, who is himself dismembered and slain by the hero from out of town. Needless to say, Grendel has his own perspective on things, and it’s beautifully written as well as heartbreaking.
• One of my favorite series of all time is the late George MacDonald Fraser’s FLASHMAN series. Harry Flashman was the villain and chief tormentor of the oh-so-good Tom Brown in Thomas Hughes’  book TOM BROWN’S SCHOOLDAYS. In the series, however, Flash Harry  ends up becoming a decorated hero, widely regarded as one of the greatest military figures of the Victorian Era, despite being exactly as Hughes described him: cowardly, sneaky, toadying, drunken, and lecherous. Much of the humor of the series comes from the fact that Flashman, who narrates the books, is wickedly honest about his own failings as well as those of the historical figures with whom he comes in contact,  from Lord Cardigan (inept commander of the Light Brigade at their famous charge, a man “too stupid to be afraid”)  to Abraham Lincoln.

      Spinoffs interest me, I think, because they take familiar characters and show them in a new light. I think there should be more of them. I’d like to see, for instance, a story told from the perspective of Sam Spade’s long suffering secretary Effie Perine. Readers of THE MALTESE FALCON may member her as the loyal, almost slavish  assistant who clearly has a thing for Sam, but that could be just  because the narrator considers Sam the hero. Effie’s got a lot of steel in her, and she’s no mean detective herself; she can tell Iva Archer’s lying about how long she’s been home because she “saw [Iva’s] clothes  where she had dumped them on a chair. Her hat and coat were underneath. Her singlette, on top was still warm. She said she’d been asleep, but she hadn’t. She had wrinkled up the bed, but the wrinkles weren’t mashed down.” This girl deserves her own book.

How about a Dennis Lehane book told by Patrick and Angie’s psycho pal Bubba Rogowksi? Ot an Ian Rankin novel  telling the story of Rebus' frequent antagonist Big Ger Cafferty from his perspective? Would these not rock?

So, today’s questions for discussion:

1. Favorite spinoff?

2. Character you’d like to see get their own book? 

A RECOMMENDATION OR TWO (OR 3) IF YOU'LL PERMIT ME

by Brett Battles

I’m not very good at writing reviews, mainly because I find it impossible to recap a story. Not because I can’t, but because I’m always afraid of telling too much, and I really want others to go into a book or a film with as little foreknowledge as possible.

That said…

Boy do I have a film recommendation for you. It’s a Swedish film that you can stream on Netflix right now. And though THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATOO is Swedish, and available to stream on Netflix (and also highly recommended by me), that’s not the film I’m talking about.

The film I have in mind is a thriller, but not the typical kind of thriller I would usually see. In fact, it’s actually the kind of film I would usually avoid. Why?

Because it’s a vampire film.

Yep, a vampire film. And no, we’re not talking a vampire film in the vein of the Twilight Series (and just to be up front, I'm not making a judgment about those one way or other as I haven’t seen them.) In fact it's been a while since I've seen any vampire film, but there was a time... That said, of the vampire films I have seen over the years, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is one of the best of the genre I have ever watched.

I'm sure some of you have heard of LET THE RIGHT ONE IN. Hollywood sure has. They're currently making an English language version right now, retitled as LET ME IN. But let me implore you, see the Swedish version first. See it soon. Hell, if you have Netflix on your computer, stream it now! I’m sure the English language version will be fine, but the Swedish version is fantastic.

I don’t know what’s going on in Sweden these days, but they are pumping out some great actors. Just like with Noomi Rapace in DRAGON TATTOO, RIGHT ONE boasts some truly remarkable performances. (And we all know what I thought of Noomi’s work as Lisbeth Slander!) Okay, maybe the performances are not quite to Noomi's level of awesomeness, but they are excellent nonetheless. This time the standouts are two kids who were probably around 12 when the movie was made. I’m resisting saying anything more about them because, like I said above, I think it’s best you discover their performances along with the film as a whole yourself.

Another aspect of the film that I loved was the cinematography. The movie was shot simply, but beautifully, highlighting the wintery starkness and splendor of the cold, white Swedish winter. Truly amazing.

Bonus: the movie is based on the book by John Ajvide Lindqvist, who also wrote the screenplay.

Yes, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is disturbing. Yes, it is, at times, violent. Yes, you will see blood. But, surprisingly, I found it also moving, and touching, and, well, brilliant.

As you can see, I can’t recommend this movie enough. Do yourself a favor, see it.

TV Quickie: At the beginning of the month RUBICON premiered on AMC with the first two episodes of the series. Because of other conflicts, I haven’t been able to see any of the episodes since…(which I plan on rectifying)…but I will say those first two episodes really grabbed me. Conspiracies, shadow governments, great writing, excellent cast…lots of upside. Perhaps it’s fallen flat on its face since then, but I’m betting not. And since it’s on AMC, I’m sure they are going to be rerunning older episodes multiple times. It reminds me a bit of THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (the book was SIX DAYS OF THE CONDOR), and the BBC version of TINKER, TAILER, SOLIDER, SPY. Worth checking out if that’s your kind of thing.

Graphic Novel Quickie: If you’re into young adult angst, love, and slackerness, like video games and struggling rock bands, and don’t hate Canada, the SCOTT PILGRIM VS. series (6 books, all now out) is a ton of fun. Haven’t seen the movie yet, so don’t know how it compares. But the books were definitely entertaining, if the subject matter works for you. 

That’s it on the recommendations for now. So, seen any good movies lately? Or TV shows? Or graphic novels? Or…?

Apologies once again. I’m on a plane today, so I won’t get to the comments until later tonight.