R.I.P. Elmore Leonard

HI folks,

This is a sad, sad day. The genius Elmore Leonard passed away from complications from a stroke. He was 87. I just learned this and my thoughts are flying everywhere. I'm incoherent and profoundly saddened.

Leonard was one of the "good guys" in literature. He inherited that "built-in bullshit detector" from Hemingway. His work was so strong, so honest, so brilliant. The very clearest of  vision.

My favorite of his books is KILLSHOT. It's also the only one that Hollywood didn't pervert when they made it into a movie. Hollywood saw most of his work--especially in the last twenty years--as broad comedy, rather than the black comedy he actually wrote. He said the same thing himself. He kept offering up a particular actor who he wanted to play the lead in many of his movies--sorry, can't remember the name but my friend Carl Brush does--Carl? Who was the actor Leonard always wanted? Once you see who he always wanted, you understand his books a lot better.

The movie they made of KILLSHOT was frickin' pitch-perfect. Again, I don't know who the director was, but he understood Leonard. And the casting director also understood him. They picked Mickey Rourke to be the lead and Rourke is the perfect choice for a Leonard character. Which is why it went direct-to-video, I suspect. It was too dark for the suits in Hollywood who don't much get black comedy. They don't usually see the difference between that and broad comedy.

I don't have a bunch of clips and photos--sorry!--but just a recommendation. If you haven't read KILLSHOT, get a copy and read it. It doesn't get any better than this.

Blue skies,
Les