James Ellroy to Pen Remake of Classic Film Noir, 'Laura'

James Ellroy has written a number of great crime novels, many of which have been adapted by Hollywood with mixed results. Few would argue with L.A. Confidential as one of the greats but adaptations of The Black Dahlia and Brown's Requiem didn't turn out so well. Ellroy has lately turned his attention to screenwriting with Rampart and Street Kings, and now he's taking on a new challenge by adapting a film noir classic.

According to THR, Ellroy has been hired to script Fox 2000's remake of Otto Preminger's 1944 film, Laura, which starred Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Vincent Price, and Clifton Webb. The story was pretty twisty even by noir standards, following a police detective who falls hopelessly in love (obsessed is probably a better word) with a beautiful murder victim. However it soon turns out there's a lot more to the crime than he expected, and more suspects than he bargained for. The film was based on Vera Caspary's book and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one.

What approach Ellroy plans to take is unclear but hopefully he sticks as close to the source material as possible. Meanwhile, Joe Carnahan continues his plans to bring Ellroy's White Jazz to the screen, James Franco recently became attached to direct his American Tabloid, and Luca Guadagnino (I Am Love) had been planning to adapt The Big Nowhere but nothing has been heard on it.

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'I Am Love' director to helm James Ellroy's 'The Big Nowhere'

I think we can all agree that L.A. Confidential is one of the best crime flicks ever made, adapted from James Ellroy's pulpy source novel, which was a part of his vaunted "L.A. Quartet" series. Most Ellroy adaptations haven't fared nearly as well as L.A. Confidential did, such as Brian De Palma's messy and boring The Black Dahlia. Even Ellroy himself, when jumping into the game as a screenwriter-for-hire has mostly been hit or miss. He co-wrote the script for David Ayer's trashy Street Kings, yet also took a swing at the script for the excellent Rampart with Woody Harrelson. Like I said: a mixed bag.

With two of the L.A. Quartet already turned into feature films(White Jazz ain't happenin' yet), a third is now on the way as Deadline reports that Luca Guadagnino is set to direct an adaptation of The Big Nowhere. Guadagnino earned a ton of acclaim for directing Tilda Swinton in the gorgeously shot I Am Love. The Big Nowhere precedes L.A. Confidential in the series, so this is technically a prequel that follows 1950 L.A. cop Danny Upshaw as he tracks a serial murderer. A number of characters from other Ellroy novels appear in varying degrees. Any chance they can get James Cromwell to come back as cracked police chief Dudley Smith? It's unclear if Ellroy will write the script himself or if someone else will be brought on.

Guadagnino will jump into this after he finished up his next couple of projects. He's got the documentary, Bertolucci on Bertolucci. After that he'll make his English-language debut with A Bigger Splash, a remake of Jacques Deray's 1969 film, La Piscine.  If you've never seen La Piscine, it's nearly identical to Francois Ozon's great, if confounding 2003 erotic thriller, Swimming Pool. Personal opinion is that Swimming Pool is better, so scope it out if you get the chance.

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