Finding TV fame: Father Brown, Sherlock Holmes, and why some fictional detectives fare better than others...

I was browsing the Internet this weekend, reading several crime fiction-related news stories and articles, when I cam across an interesting piece by Guy Somerset, Arts & Books Editor at the New Zealand Listener. As part of a review of two now-available DVD box sets of British TV series based on famous fictional detectives, Somerset raised an interesting question; why are some detectives more adapted than others? In his article he focuses on GK Chesterton's Father Brown and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes (the stars of the respective DVD releases, the 1974 Father Brown series starring Kenneth More, and the modern Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch), noting the differing treatment of the two famous (at least in a literary sense) characters throughout TV/film history.

Somerset begins his article with: "Poor Father Brown. How it must rankle. It’s a good thing he’s a man of the cloth or who knows what evil might worm its way into his heart were he to dwell on all those classic detectives who have fared better than him when it comes to film and television adaptations. Dare one even whisper the words Sherlock Holmes?"

It's a topic which has intrigued me for a while - how some detectives, and therefore their books and writers, become more famous due to numerous adaptations, how some terrific characters aren't adapted for film and TV, or aren't repeatedly adapted, etc? Of course, when it comes to the film business (and probably TV too, by extrapolation), William Goldman's famous quote: "Nobody knows anything" is very appropriate.

Somerset mentions the likes of the much-adapted Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, as well. Sherlock Holmes has of course been adapted many times over. Could it just be that those characters have been around for so long? Well, no - because as Somerset points out, Father Brown hasn't fared so well. Dame Ngaio Marsh's Inspector Roderick Alleyn has been adapted for both British and New Zealand television, but I'm not sure how Wimsey and other Golden Age characters have fared. They're certainly not being regularly remade for modern films or TV shows like the drug-taking, violin-playing resident of 221B.

You can read Somerset's article in full here.

Why do you think some crime fiction characters have been remade more than others? Is it just that the most popular characters or authors have been most remade? Or does that become self-fulfilling (ie remakes generate more popularity)? What about modern detectives? Which more recent characters would you most like to see adapted for the big or small screen? Which older characters would you like to see given a modern twist in an updated film or TV series, ala Sherlock?

Meet your silver screen Jack Reacher, possibly....

In news that is sure to get hardcore crime fiction fans up in arms even more than Hollywood's decision to make its own version of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, internet rumours are swirling that Tom Cruise might play Jack Reacher in a film version of Lee Child's ONE SHOT.

Quite frankly, I'm flabbergasted. Not because Cruise isn't a good actor - he is far better than many people give him credit for. Just check out Born on the Fourth of July, amongst several very good dramatic roles, or his self-deprecating cameo in Tropic Thunder. The man might have built a career on good looks, but like Brad Pitt, he can also act when given the right roles.

But as everyone knows, Cruise is at the shorter end of the height spectrum, while Child's Reacher is, well, clearly not. At 6 foot 5 and weighing a muscled 230 (105kgs or so for metric system readers), Reacher is quite the physical specimen in Child's bestselling series. Cruise has 'muscled up' for several roles, and is undoubtedly a fit and active actor, but he's not a Reacher-type. And surely there must be plenty of great actors out there, big names or up-and-comers, who might suit the role better.

If the rumours are true, and Cruise is interested in or considering the role, it seems to me like one of those 'big star wants to play a popular character, potential franchise of films' type deal, rather than because he is suited to the role. What do you think? Could Cruise pull off Jack Reacher? If not, who would you like to see in the role? What have been some of your most and least favourite castings for crime fiction adaptations (Clint Eastwood as Terry McCaleb in Blood Work? Alec Baldwin (Heaven's Prisoners) or Tommy Lee Jones (In the Electiric Mist) as Dave Robicheaux? Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep?). Would love to get your thoughts on the matter.

Hat tip to Crimespree magazine for the heads-up re: the Cruise rumours.

Michael Connelly talks about visiting the set of the upcoming film THE LINCOLN LAWYER

As I revealed last week, one of the biggest authors in the contemporary crime fiction world will be visiting New Zealand soon, with news breaking that Michael Connelly will be here on 24 May, for a 'one night only' feature event in central Auckland. The event will be tied in to the film adaptation of his book THE LINCOLN LAWYER. More details to come.

I spoke to Michael Connelly about the upcoming film in our interview for the Weekend Herald last year (at the time of the release of THE REVERSAL). It was a terrific interview overall - 90mins of chatting about crime writing and more. Unfortunately of course only about 10-20 % of such an interview can ever make it into the eventual article, because of space constraints. You can read my Weekend Herald feature article here, and some further comments from Connelly about the film adaptation, here.

Now Connelly has written his own very interesting article for the March issue of LA Times Magazine about witnessing the making of the film adaptation, his visits to the film set, his thoughts on the upcoming film, and the inspiration behind the original books. Here's an excerpt:

"I came by myself to watch the filming of what I think is the most important moment in the book and the film—when all of lawyer Mickey Haller’s machinations and scheming come together. It’s a set piece with a lot of choreography of main characters and background movement. In the novel, momentum is the key component. It is so important it’s even announced on the cover with a shot of a blurred Lincoln Town Car speeding by. As I watch the first three takes of the scene, I see that the director, screenwriter, actors and everybody have gotten the point. A momentum builds, an undeniable energy that seems to explode in a stare-down between lawyer and client—McConaughey and Ryan Phillippe. As I watch, I am absolutely ecstatic."

You can read the whole article (recommended) here. The film is released in the United States on 18 March, and elsewhere in the English-speaking world in the coming weeks. I for one am very much looking forward to it - talking to Connelly last year it was clear he was stoked with how this adaptation had gone. He of course has had another novel. BLOOD WORK, adapted for film before - and I definitely got the sense he thinks the screenwriters/actors/director/crew have 'got' THE LINCOLN LAWYER a lot more than their counterparts did with BLOOD WORK (which was a good book, and just an okay/mediocre film, in my opinion).

Have you read THE LINCOLN LAWYER? Will you watch the film (see trailer here)? What do you think? Do you like watching film/TV adaptations of crime novels? What are some of your favourite and least favourite adaptations?

Michael Connelly reveals his thoughts on the upcoming LINCOLN LAWYER film

As I've said recently, along with all the books I am looking forward to in 2011, there are a also a few films that I can't wait to see. And perhaps the one I am most excited about is THE LINCOLN LAWYER, based on the superb Michael Connelly book of the same name.

You can watch Michael Connelly discuss some aspects of writing the book, and the film adaptation, in a brief but interesting YouTube piece above.

Although book-to-film adaptations don't always go well, and can fall very flat at times, I am hopeful about this film for a number of reasons, including the trailer, the stellar cast, and the fact that when I interviewed him late last year Connelly himself seemed very happy with the script adaptation, and how it was looking (having been on set). So fingers crossed THE LINCOLN LAWYER delivers.

You can watch the first trailer here, and also read some comments from Connelly to me about the movie. You can also read my Weekend Herald feature interview with Connelly here, and his 9mm interview here.

Are you looking forward to THE LINCOLN LAWYER? Have you read the book? What crime novels would you most like to see turned into films?

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo wins and loses at Baftas

While the mainstream media has focused on the unsurprising ‘home ground’ success of the Colin Firth-led The King’s Speech at the recent British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) Awards, for crime fiction fans there was also some interest in a few of the lesser-publicised awards.

In a well-deserved nod, the Swedish-language film adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s juggernaut THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO won the Best Film not in the English Language (equivalent of the Oscars’ Best Foreign Film). This was a truly terrific film - well written, acted, and directed. It actually showed in New Zealand in late 2009 (see my review here), but because of release dates has been eligible for this year’s awards round in England and the USA. Both at the time, and now in hindsight, this was one of the best films I’d seen on the big screen in a long time. It’s a shame it hasn’t got even more attention at the English-speaking awards.

Unfortunately (but not unexpectedly) Noomi Rapace missed out on the Best Actress nod to Natalie Portman’s much-acclaimed and publicised performance in Black Swan. Rapace was truly brilliant as Lisbeth Salander, but Portman has had the Best Actress awards locked up across the board this year, and it would be a massive surprise if anyone other than her took out the biggest of all, the Oscar, in the near future. In a kudos to the Bafta judges, it was great to see Rapace recognised with her Bafta nomination for Best Actress - it’s a real shame Hollywood overlooked her for an Oscar nomination, given her terrific performance.

Have you watched m/any of the nominated or winning films? What do you think of the Bafta results? Has TKS built up some Oscar momentum, or will its hometown advantage come to much less when the Hollywood red carpet is rolled out and the likes of The Social Network, Christian Bale in The Fighter, and Amy Adams, might once again walk away with some of the major awards? Thoughts welcome.

Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor on TV screens

A few days ago “The Guards” - the pilot TV movie for a prime time series based on the Jack Taylor novels by acclaimed Irish crime writer Ken Bruen - was aired on TV3 in Ireland.

According to JackTaylorFilms.com, "Bruen is a prolific writer with many fans around the World and 28 novels behind him already" and "Galway based Magma Productions have signed a deal on the rights for the full series of Jack Taylor novels, more of which [are]to be shot in Galway in late 2010 and 2011".

So good news for Ken Bruen fans, and crime fiction fans in general, it seems.

In the pilot, "The Guards", former Irish cop turned finder Jack Taylor is played by Scottish character actor Iain Glen (pictured above on the left, with Ken Bruen), who has been in many productions over the years, eg playing Richard the Lionheart in Kingdom of Heaven, and Otto Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank.

You can watch a trailer for "The Guards" below:



According to JackTaylorFilms.com, upcoming further episodes in the series include:

THE KILLING OF THE TINKERS
Jack Taylor has slid further down the slope of despair. Someone is systematically slaughtering young travellers and dumping their bodies in the city centre. Even in the state he‘s in, Jack Taylor has an uncanny ability to know where to look, what questions to ask, and apparently solves the case.

MAGDALEN MARTYRS
Jack Taylor has sunk to all new lows with his drinking. But when he gets a tip-off about a missing woman named Rita Monroe, his ex-cop brain pulls his body into action. Rita had been one of the Magdalene girls, a group of unmarried mothers who had been consigned into slavery in a laundry run by the nuns. Jack sets out on Rita‘s trail, uncovering religious hypocrisy and abuse.

THE DRAMATIST
The impossible has happened: Jack Taylor is living clean and dating a mature woman. Rumour suggests he is even attending mass… The accidental deaths of two students appear random, tragic events, except that in each case a copy of a book by John Millington Synge is found beneath the body. Jack begins to believe that „The Dramatist,“ a calculating killer, is out there, enticing him to play.

PRIEST
The decapitation of Father Joyce in a Galway church horrifies even the most jaded citizen. Jack Taylor, devastated by the recent trauma of personal loss, has always believed himself to be beyond salvation. An eerie mix of exorcism, a predatory stalker, and an unlikely attraction conspires to lure him into a murderous web of dark conspiracies.

CROSS
Jack Taylor brings death and pain to everyone he loves. His only hope of redemption – his surrogate son, Cody – is lying in hospital in a coma. His insider Ridge tells him that a boy has been crucified in Galway city. Then the sister of the murdered boy is burned to death, and Jack decides he must hunt down the killer, if only to administer his own brand of rough justice.

SANCTUARY
A guard and then a judge die in mysterious circumstances. But it is not until a child is added to the list that Taylor determines to find the identity of the killer. What he doesn‘t know is that his relationship with the killer is far closer than he thinks – and that it‘s about to become deeply personal.

Hat Tip to J. Kingston Pierce at the always-excellent The Rap Sheet for the heads-up about the TV screening and the trailer.

So, did anyone watch "The Guards" on Monday night in Ireland? If so, what did you think? Are you a Ken Bruen/Jack Taylor fan? What do you think of the trailer? Thoughts and comments welcome.