From Mysterious Press Buzz, March '99:
Donald E. Westlake (aka Richard Stark) and his representatives recently closed a three-book movie deal with Warner Bros., who negotiated on behalf of Joel Silver Productions.
Silver has produced an impressive array of thrillers and action pictures, from the "Die Hard" and "Lethal Weapon" series to "Predator" and "Demolition Man." He's been a fan of Stark for years, and feels that Stark-style noir is the wave of Hollywood's future.
The three books under contract are Backflash, The Man with the Getaway Face, and Butcher's Moon.
More news:
Joel Silver, who currently holds the rights to three Parker novels (see above), has hired Scott Smith, who wrote both the novel and the screenplay A Simple Plan, to script Backflash. If you haven't seen A Simple Plan, it's a fantastic movie and Smith's screenplay was nominated for an Oscar. I haven't read the book yet (although I have it), but a friend tells me it is terrific as well.
If the film doesn't get "Gibsonized" in the process, we may finally see a true-to-Parker film. A Simple Plan was a very dark film that made it to theatres intact, which gives me some hope. However, this must be weighed against the involvement of Mr. Silver, whose movies tend towards popcorn (admittedly pretty good popcorn) and who is also reputed to have given Mel Gibson a hand in castrating Payback. And, of course, just because someone is writing a script does not mean that a movie will actually be made. However, I am optimistic that the movie will be made and hopeful that it will at least be fun if not necessarily Parker.
Flashfire: The new Parker novel, Flashfire, will be published in October 2000.
John Travolta as Parker? A script by Alex Ignon (writer of Mel Gibson vehicle Ransom, supposedly pretty good) has been floating around, and Warner Brothers apparently has approached Travolta about the role. Can't say how I feel about this...I really liked Pulp Fiction and Face/Off but I thought Get Shorty was overrated (although I'm told I need to watch it again). To make it easier to swallow, think of him in crime roles rather than in Battlefield Earth (see it drunk, you might like it) or that one where he plays an angel. For more info and discussion, check out www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=5638