Charlie Matthau has been entrusted to make, Freaky Deaky, one of Elmore’s all time greatest books into film. Elmore guided him into writing a script that happily stays on track with the book.
Sound off about Freaky Deaky, the book, the movie, who should play what part.
Charlie reads this, so let him know how you feel about Freaky Deaky.
Since part of the plot involves the shooting of a movie, Matthau changed the book’s Detroit setting to Los Angeles, and set the tale in 1974 instead of 1988 to make it closer to when political radicals would have surfaced.
Not getting off to a good start. I suppose that the characters are from Berkeley instead of Ann Arbor. Sometimes audiences are underestimated by filmmakers, who assume that they have to make things more familiar. Just my opinion, doesn’t invalidate the movie, just sort of cheapens it.
I’m having trouble with the change in the year it takes place. In the book, weren’t all the ex-radicals supposed to be in their late 30s-early 40s? Placing it in 1974 would make them all much younger. Unless Mr. Matthau has a bunch of 20-something actors in mind for the cast (which might not be a good thing, IMHO).
I would have thought Out of Sight would have shown how great a location Detroit can be, but I guess Detroit now doesn’t look much like Detroit in 1988 and even less like 1974, if that’s the way they’re going to go. Too bad. California is so overused it looks generic. Detroit has character.
How does changing the setting to 1974 affect the cop, Chris Mankowski, being the same age as the ex-radicals? His character will have to be quite different.
Still, there should be some great music in this movie, and great dialogue. There are plenty of great parts.
There’s an actor on the TV show The Wire named Idris Elba (he plays Stringer Bell) who would make a terrific Donnell.
My wife says Nathan Fillion (who was in the TV show Firefly) could be Chris Mankowski. This depends on the age of the character, though.
For me, one of the best things about Elmore Leonard characters is that they are real adults, grown-ups, and they act like it. It would be a shame if these characters were in their twenties. Or, at least, it would be a very different story.
One sad lesson I’ve learned in over twenty five years hanging around Elmore and seeing his books being made into movies, is that it is very difficult to:
a.) Get a movie made.
b.) Get a good movie made.
Elmore has had six to ten good movies made from his books, with the rest ranging from mediocre to scary bad.
Everybody can contribute to the success or failure of a picture including ironically, the author. In Elmore’s case, there is a trap. What looks deceptively breezy and cinematic on paper gets lost or doesn’t work in the adaptation.
In the case of Freaky Deaky, Charlie Matthau has great passion for the project dating back many years. He acquired the rights finally and wrote a script which was faithful to the characters and dialogue but changed the time, setting FD in the present; the place, Los Angeles instead of Detroit, and the subject, Eco-terrorists instead of Sixties Hippie Radicals. It was Elmore who advised Charlie to stay with the turbulent 60s and set the work in 1974 when a lot of hippies began to sell out and suit up. Elmore felt that the story would work better for Charlie that way; the Sixties now closer to the time period of Freaky Deaky.
I am a purist and a realist. Elmore says to be optimistic about FD or any project going in, so I will.
Charlie has the essential Freaky Deaky in his script. He is very aware of the challenge to get the real deal on the screen.
and the subject, Eco-terrorists instead of Sixties Hippie Radicals
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For me, the beginning of the book sets the entire pace of FD….Chris & Jerry talking about women, while some gangster is sitting in a chair rigged with a bomb….and they don’t skip a beat, while you are wondering what might happen, but they continue to talk about women…the “bomb” was a recurring theme and needed in some chapters…as EL has used guns as glue or elastic to give direction and flow of the story
Robin..whoever plays her has to give her all the juice that comes across on the page…that wont be easy…
the time line has me a bit puzzled…as to how old the actors are going to be…
hope progress reports of this production will fill in the blanks
hey el gang, great to hear of a new movie project as trepidatious as that may make a fan or someone interested in the process of film and writing for film No film can be equal to or greater than an Elmore Leonard novel from which it is derived, something like miraculous osmosis may come close, rule#1 in Dutch Film Universe.
The attached image from jacket of 88 back panel in my mind the best picture of Mr Leonard to date
I agree, the purists here will be a tough sell. Elmore approved the changes, good enough for me. Another adaptation will be fun to watch, debate, and should keep the fan base growing. I always thought George Clooney was a little young for the lead in Out of Sight. But it worked. And it might work with younger actors in FD.
It if turns out to be another formulaic hollywood soft comedy like Be Cool, well, that wouldn’t be cool for you guys. If it’s entertianing, makes me laugh, I’m happy. Still it would be nice if it turns a profit AND gets Elmore’s seal of approval. Let’s see how Three-ten to Yuma and Killshot turn out. Clearly the directors who ‘get it’ will turn out a better adaptation than the ones who don’t.
You’re all being hopelessly optimistic. What was the first bad film Quentin Tarantino made? Jackie Brown. When was the first time John Travolta was made to look distinctly un-cool on the screen? Get Shorty.(you can do the Chili Palmer stare with blue eyes? You’re kidding me…)
The tradition of the quality American realist crime story has been maintained because the best writers - Hammett. Chandler, Elmore - have identified Hollywood as their rival, not their bedfellow. You take the money, sure, but your business is to provide an experience that can’t be duplicated on the screen. Freaky Deaky doesn’t even have a plot, for Chrissake. Just a bundle of sub-plots that move around each other in a kind of dance, the Freaky Deaky, the one that makes people kill each other.
The least the movie could do is what Elmore can’t: show us what the dance looks like. On the soundtrack you could have the Roy Ayers jazz-funk number from the late ‘seventies; although the first time I heard the phrase was on Archie Bell & the Drells’ ‘Tighten Up’ (“Hi there I’m Archie Bell & the Drells from Houston Texas and we can not only sing we can dance as good as we wawk”) Archie mentions the Freaky Deaky towards the end. Unless I’m getting them mixed up with K.C. & the Sunshine Band.
Gregg, how did this “emoticon” find its way into my text? I can’t edit it out. Call the exterminators.
Listen Dog you can’t bail on me man http://www.helium.com/tm/201674
I will play your youtube if you play my helium
the dance changes from generation to generation
the author keeps working
moviemakers make
movies
That’s blatant spam, Mr Slater, for your family weblog, Helium in this case being synonymus with hot air (although I might be persuaded to contribute an article if you ask me nice. Not on this forum, though, & if you want it to link to your site you ought to ask Mr Sutter first.)
Anyway, let’s try to keep this thread on-topic. I just found a copy of Freaky Deaky in my sister’s attic where my asshole brother-in-law must’ve relegated it so I’m quickly doing a re-read. My first issue is also with this movie’s time scheme. If it’s set in 1974 how can you deal with the gangsta posse drug dealer- theme? This is a phenomenon that started in the 80’s, when the price of cocaine went down & African-American drug dealers started behaving ostentatiously like everyone else.
You can see the main problem: adapting a plot that’s heavy on back-story, like all EL’s books, which tends to fuck up the continuity of a movie. But the early seventies seems to be the worst of all choices.
Yet we are told that this idea has Elmore’s blessing: he pockets their half-mil & then nudges them towards making a flapping gobbling flightless bird. When I was 11 I saw for maybe the 2nd time Howard Hawks’ Big Sleep & noticed the name Raymond Chandler on the credits. The next day I went to the public library & started a love affair with this - what can I say? - certain kind of fiction that has lasted ever since. I sometimes wonder whether the same thing could happen with a movie with Elmore’s name on it… (& then I remember that Chandler may have deliberately fucked up the plot of The Big Sleep when he was hired to work on the script. What is it with these writers?)
