© by Gerald So | 5:00 AM
Since the June 26 announcement that Ace Atkins' second Spenser continuation novel, Robert B. Parker's Wonderland, was being adapted for a Netflix movie starring Mark Wahlberg and directed by Peter Berg, Ace has said in a July 15 interview with The Real Book Spy he has no involvement with the movie beyond having written the novel.
On August 4, Boston Casting had an open call "[s]earching for real people—character men with tough faces."
Yesterday Ace tweeted a Collider Peter Berg video interview in which the director said Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Payback, Mystic River) was writing the script, apparently replacing originally-announced screenwriter Sean O'Keefe. Berg also said he was two weeks away from announcing the rest of the cast and the movie was scheduled to start shooting the last weekend of September.
Helgeland's cred is undeniable. I hope he shows familiarity with Spenser as he did with Dennis Lehane. I had been most concerned about the original premise of a Spenser fresh out of prison, stripped of his P.I. license, and sucked back into Boston's underworld, but it may change with the writer.
Berg did say the movie would be darker and more contemporary than Spenser: For Hire, but then Parker's books always were harder-edged, and the more contemporary setting tracks with Atkins' books.
I'm also following Wonderland's IMDb listing.
2 comments:
Spenser just out of prison?
No mention of Susan Silverman? A hard R Spenser to attract eyeballs?
They could have had a ten episode Spenser with Nathan Fillion or Ben Affleck, Chris Judge could be Hawk.
Why not just create a new character or scrap Boston Blackie for reinvention? I can't imagine what they would do to The Thin Man.
I am not liking this version of Spenser but will rserve judgment until I see it. But all of this information is "good to know."
Doesn't sound like you're reserving judgment, Jeff. :)
Post a Comment