Showing posts with label Ryan Gosling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ryan Gosling. Show all posts

Friday, September 21, 2018

Know When to Hold ’Em, Know When to Fold ’Em

If a major producer/production company wanted to option or buy your book…but wanted to change it in major ways as often happens in Hollywood, would you still sell it? Explain your reasons and your limitations. But remember, once you sell something to Hollywood, except in extremely rare instances, you lose control over the film property.

by Paul D. Marks

How often have you said or heard someone say, “The book was better than the movie.” Well, there’s a lot of reasons for that. Movies are a different beast than books. They accomplish things in different ways. Plus, the people who make the movies want to put their stamp on the project.

I’ve been on both sides of the issue and neither side is really comfortable. I had a friend, who’s a fairly big writer-director these days, but when he was starting out a major producer wanted to buy his property…and even let him direct, which is just about every aspiring filmmaker’s fantasy. And it came true. But all he ever did was complain about how “they” changed this and changed that. Later on, the same guy had another property that sold and the original script was really good. But once it went through the Hollywood meat grinder it was barely recognizable. More gripes. And I’m sitting there thinking, Jeez, I wish I had your problems.

When you sell the rights to your book to Hollywood (in most cases) they can do virtually anything they want to it. Look at how many movies barely resemble the book. Maybe they’re even better, but they’re not the book. So you have to decide if you want to maintain your integrity or get whatever benefits and glory come your way by having a movie made of your book. It’s my understanding that Sue Grafton, who came from a film background and knew what might happen, wouldn’t sell the rights to her Kinsey Millhone stories because she didn’t’ want to lose control over how Kinsey was portrayed or how the stories might be changed.

Ryan Gosling
 As I’d mentioned previously, I made a well-known producer cry because one of my pieces touched him so much. But when he wanted to change my story by adding extraneous characters, I told my agent to can the deal. Would I do that today? I’m not sure.

And let’s not forget the Golden Turkey Leg, where another producer wanted to bring a character back from the dead and have something I called the Golden Turkey Leg that was sort of a magic wand. It was a nightmare. On that one I actually optioned the property to him and did the work and made the changes, but it fell apart. And maybe I’m even glad for that.

In another instance, I optioned a script to a producer who wanted to change the male lead to female and vice versa. Since it was already optioned I did it. Sometimes you fight and sometimes you compromise. It’s like that old song says, know when to hold ’em and know when to fold ’em.

Catalina Sandino Moreno
You can find more on these stories and others in my recent post at: http://7criminalminds.blogspot.com/2018/08/dancing-with-myself.html 

Now to answer today’s question: Today I think I’d be a little more bending. A little more flexible. I’m older and maybe just a wee bit wiser. The key is to ask to do the first draft screenplay. That way you’re bound to get a screen credit and that means a lot in terms of royalties. And fight for what you think should be fought for within limits and bend in other places.

But who would I cast in my latest, Broken Windows: Broken Windows is set mostly in Los Angeles in 1994, during the fight over California’s notorious anti-illegal alien Proposition 187—a precursor to the immigration fights going on in the country today. While the storm rages over Prop 187, a young woman climbs to the top of the famous Hollywood sign—and jumps to her death. An undocumented day laborer is murdered. And a disbarred and desperate lawyer in Venice Beach places an ad in a local paper that says: “Will Do Anything For Money.”—Private Investigator Duke Rogers, and his very unPC partner, Jack, must figure out what ties together these seemingly unrelated incidents.

Mark Wahlberg
So, who would I cast in the main parts? Of course this changes as time slips by. My ideal casting for Jack would have been Nick Nolte in his prime. But these days, I’m thinking John Cena or maybe Michael Fassbinder or Christian Bale. And for Duke, Mark Wahlberg or Ryan Gosling. Maybe Jeremy Renner, as Duke’s not a big dude. For Eric, the disbarred lawyer, Amy suggested Robert Downey, Jr., and he would be perfect. Maybe a little older than the character, but those things often change from book to movie. Eric’s girlfriend, Lindsay, AnnaSophia Robb. For the mysterious Miguel, who responds to the lawyer’s ad to do anything for money, maybe Antonio Banderas. Possibly Edward James Olmos or Andy Garcia. And for Marisol, who sets the plot in motion when she asks Duke to investigate the murder of her brother, Catalina Sandino Moreno. For Myra Chandler (guess who that’s an homage to), an LAPD detective that Duke and Jack run into in both Broken Windows and White Heat, and who’s a bit more sympathetic to them than her partner, Haskell, I’m thinking Jennifer Aniston. Why not? It’s my fantasy. And for Susan Karubian, the woman who jumps from the Hollywood sign, I picture Mila Kunis, although I would hate to kill her off so early in the film….

So, what about you?

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And now for the usual BSP, and since Broken Windows is hot off the presses here’s some of what Kristin Centorcelli at Criminal Element – and for which I thank them – had to say about it just a couple days ago in a very satisfying review ( https://www.criminalelement.com/review-broken-windows-by-paul-d-marks/ ). Here’s some excerpts from it:

“If you enjoy old-school PI tales, you’ll love getting to know L.A. PI (and former Navy SEAL) Duke Rogers.”

“Duke and company practically beg for their own TV show.”

“Although it’s set in 1994, it’s eerie how timely this story is. There’s an undeniable feeling of unease that threads through the narrative, which virtually oozes with the grit, glitz, and attitude of L.A. in the ‘90s. I’m an ecstatic new fan of Duke’s.”


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Friday, September 30, 2016

The Silver Screen Comes Calling

Which of your protagonists would make good movie characters, and who would you choose to play them?

by Paul D. Marks


Ha! Who would I choose to play my protagonists on the silver screen: anybody who comes-a-callin’. It would just be great to see one of my prose stories up there. But since I’m an “old movie” guy I often tend to think of classic movie stars for parts, and since some of them are dead (H. Bogart) it’s not ideal casting, though it would be perfect to me and the question doesn’t specify dead or alive. So in an ideal world…

There was a time when I saw many of my male leads as either Humphrey Bogart or Jack Nicholson. Harrison Ford. And for at least some of the female leads, Michelle Pfeiffer. Hey, when you’re dreaming dream big! And on occasion I came close to having that dream fulfilled. For example, I was working with a producer who had optioned a script of mine and he asked me who my ideal leads would be. I said Harrison Ford or Jack Nicholson for the male and Michelle Pfeiffer for the female. Now you might think that these were out of reach but not so because this producer had worked with them, knew them and could actually get them. Unfortunately that project went south, but it was exciting while it lasted. Oh, and how close other times. But close is no cigar or even a cigarillo. So, maybe what I’ll have to do is turn that script into a novel. Sell that novel to Hollywood. And then see about the casting. Though were it made today it would be a whole new ballgame of actors.



So onto casting for my prose, let’s see:

White Heat (Shamus-winning novel): A noir-thriller set during the Rodney King riots in L.A. Duke Rogers is a private eye who inadvertently leads a stalker to his prey. Then he and his sidekick Jack have to set things right and try to find the killer. Jack is rough around the edges to say the least, very unPC. The kind of guy who always says the wrong thing but does the right thing. How about Nick Nolte in his prime? And for Duke, Keanu Reeves. And for Rita, Duke’s love interest, Lupita Nyong'o.



Vortex (Noir Novella): Zach Tanner is just back from the war in Afghanistan. Tough, but wanting to get back to the real world, he’s had a change of heart about a get rich quick scheme he entered into with some of his army buddies. Unfortunately for him his friends haven’t. How about Ryan Gosling for Zach? And Mila Kunis for Jesse, his girlfriend. Yeah, I could live with that, even though both are probably a little too old for the parts as written.

Dead Man’s Curve (short story published in the Last Exit to Murder anthology): Ray Hood is a guy whose rock ‘n’ roll dreams have evaporated. I’ve always seen this as a movie and always with Jeff Bridges as Ray, though if any bankable A-List actor wants the part, more power to him. Ray’s a frustrated musician who has lost his ability to play and is aimless and foundering without it. He once played with Jan and Dean and the Beach Boys on the road—his claim to fame—and is trying for a comeback. He gets a chance to do a favor for an old friend by driving his classic car up the coast, playing music on the iPod, but things go wrong. Very wrong.  —And I’m talking Bridges today, gruff and grizzled, not the smooth young actor of yesteryear.

Howling at the Moon (Anthony and Macavity nominated short story, published in the 11/14 Ellery Queen): Darrell is a Native American ex-Marine, who comes back to visit the sacred lands of his grandfather and meets a treasure hunter. Johnny Depp would be good for box office, but maybe Adam Beach or Rick Mora would be good for the part. There’s only four people in this story and one of them is hardly a character. And Bud, the “yuppie,” could be played by a young Brad Pitt doing a character role instead of the leading man.

Ghosts of Bunker Hill (short story, coming soon to an Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine near you in the December 2016 issue): Howard Hamm is a detective in a baffling case where his best friend is shot and killed on the doorstep of his lovingly-restored, former Bunker Hill Victorian house. As I was writing this story there was only person I thought of for the part: Jesse L. Martin of Law & Order fame. And on the good news front, I’ve sold a sequel to this one to Ellery Queen, but no publication date has been set yet.

So, there you have it. Of course, we don’t want people to only see these actors in a part. It’s up to your imagination too. So feel free to cast whoever you want in my stories, you’re the casting director. I’m just the lowly writer…and in Hollywood, believe me, there’s pretty much no one lower than the lowly writer. And like I said, if you’re going to dream, dream big!

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Check out Akashic's St. Louis Noir anthology with my short story Deserted Cities of the Heart.

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