DePalmas Black Dahlia (1 Viewer)

[JonZ]

Death in Vegas, the song is called Dirge

"this fall is easily shaping up to be a wonderful time for the mystery/thriller genre"

Dont forget David Finchers The Chronicles, about the Zodiac Killer is due as well.

 

[Brent Bridgeman]

Looking forward to this one. I love James Ellroy, and the trailer looked spiffy. Now I'm just waiting for Oliver Stone to adapt and direct "American Tabloid". THAT would be a rush!

 

[Joe D]

I thought the trailer looked very good.

I'm not a big fan of DePalma (except for Scarface), but if the reviews are good I'll try and see this.

 

[Nathan V]

It got pushed to January. Also, isn't it called Zodiac?

Regards,
Nathan

 

[JonZ]

Nathan, this film was released this year...

http://www.thezodiacfilm.com/

Finchers film has changed its name to The Chronicles

 

[Michael:M]

Exact same reaction here. The trailer was otherwise intrigueing, but I have serious doubts about Hartnett being able to convey the world-weariness and presence needed for noir protoganists.

I'm not a huge de Palma fan, but I do love the Untouchables and I think that Casulties of War is a highly underrated film.

 

[Nathan V]

JonZ, check out IMDB- http://imdb.com/title/tt0443706/


EDIT: looks like you're right about the title change though (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Fincher)

Regards,
Nathan

 

[Rob_Walton]

That would make a great mini-series on HBO, so that the story and character developments could play out and the violence could be kept intact. This particular Ellroy adaptation doesn't fill me with too much hope. Depalma has one of those name of an auter without any of the consistent talent. Even his best film (IMO The Untouchables) is remarkably simplistic to the point of looking like a TV movie in parts. The comparisons with LA Confidential will be inevitable, and, I fear, unfavourable.

 

[seanOhara]

American Tabloid is basically JFK told from the opposition's point of view, so I doubt he'd do it. However, the idea of it being an HBO series would rock -- especially if they'd wait until Police Gazette comes out and adapt all three novels.

 

[Holadem]

I don't think I have a weak stomach, but this one story depresses the hell out of me. Do I really want to know why a young woman ended up in two pieces in some parking lot? She was what, 24 or somesuch? She didn't just die, she evidently suffered a great deal, with most of the injuries sustained while alive. Ugh.

--
H

 

[Brent Bridgeman]

Welcome to the grim and gritty world of James Ellroy. The bad guys are evil, and the "good" guys reside in some grey area between morally neutral and absolute corruption. No one visits Ellroyland and leaves unscathed.

I wonder if DePalma will give the story a "happy" ending like Hansen did "LA Confidential"?

 

[Holadem]

?

Elizabeth Short and her gruesome murder did not spring from Ellroyland. They were quite real.

--
H

 

[TravisR]

I think the book has the happiest ending possible. It ain't happy but it could be worse.

 

[Brent Bridgeman]

Yes, I know that this is a real incident. When you were questioning why you would want to view this story, I was assuming you meant something like, "this is a gruesome story, why does it need to be told?" So, I was just informing you that Ellroy's stuff is all pretty stark and graphic, but extremely well written, especially if you like a lot of compact, snappy dialogue and exposition (sometimes it even takes on a stacatto pace). The catalyst that drives his obsession with the seamy underbelly of society is the unsolved murder of his mother, which occurred when he was quite young (he has also written a non-fiction book about his mother's case).

 

[Colton]

Elizabeth Short was 22 when she was brutally butchered. It is believed she died from hemorrhaging from the bisection cut, but was unconscious at the time. Not much is known for the bizarre mutilations: the ear to ear mouth slash and the pelvic gash. It is known that she had a rare condition that made her vagina unpenetratable as it was "incomplete", so she wasn't anything the tabloids made her to be as a hooker on the prowl. She was very much an enigma in life ... and death.

- Colton

 

[Kevin M]

It's a very complicated case and not the easiest to write a screenplay for if the "facts" are to be closely adhered to.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

A couple of new posters can be found here and here.

I quite like the first of these two.

You do know that the passage you're quoting wasn't actually talking about The Black Dahlia making a good HBO mini-series. I believe Rob was talking about another Ellroy book, American Tabloid.

In any case, I'm like you. I don't want to see what was done to her portrayed on screen. But (and I say this having never read the book), I don't think we will have to watch that scene. I get the impression that the story is about the reaction that the characters have to the crime. And while we will probably see images of the body afterwards, maybe even brief snatches of the crime's commission, I think (hope) you could probably tell that type of story without actually having any extended portrayal of the crime's commission.

 

[JediFonger]

2 things come to mind:
1. jack the ripper, visit www.crimelibrary.com for further details on jack AND elizabeth short.

2. if it's going to be true to noir, it shouldn't be gory. classic noir is all about detective, dame, the mystery and how they solve it.

 

[TravisR]

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Why would it be gory? DePalma usually implies gore rather than showing it. Even Scarface, which is considered by many to be excessively violent, actually shows very, very little.

He's very good at making you think you saw something that you didn't really see.