If you haven’t seen James Ellroy: Demon Dog of American Crime Fiction, try to do so. It’s one of those flawed but fascinating documentaries that capures a subject in spite of itself. In this case, the subject is obviously Ellroy, as he talks about his history and crime writing influences, primary among them the murder of his mother.
I only mention it because My Dark Places, Ellroy’s autobiographical account of his mother’s murder and the effect it had on his life, has been optioned once again, by Myriad Pictures and Killer Films.
This is the second time Myriad’s fingers have tried to bury into Elrroy’s brain; back in 2002 the company was part of a co-financing deal with Coppola and American Zoetrope to film the book, which had been optioned prior to publication by Robert Greenwald. Back then, David Duchovny was attached to star as Ellroy.
No one has been proffered yet to wear the wire rims, but Tom Kalin is the first directorial name to crop up. Kalin’s got a history with murder and murderous attempts on life: he produced I Shot Andy Warhol and currently has Savage Grace, about the London murder of Barbara Daly Baekeland, at Cannes. If he can give me David Strathairn as Ellroy, I might be willing to
consider his version.