White Jazz
Encyclopedia
White Jazz is a 1992
crime fiction
novel
by James Ellroy
. It is the fourth in his L.A. Quartet
, preceded by The Black Dahlia
, The Big Nowhere
, and L.A. Confidential
.
Lieutenant David Klein is a veteran policeman who moonlights as a hitman
for organized crime. When he is assigned to investigate a robbery at the home of the Los Angeles Police Department
's (LAPD) sanctioned heroin dealer, he uncovers a plot to bring the city's crime syndicates into collusion with the channels of justice.
The stories of many characters that appeared in earlier L.A. Quartet novels, including Edmund Exley and Dudley Smith, have their ends tied up in White Jazz, which also introduces Pete Bondurant, one of the central characters in Ellroy's Underworld USA Trilogy.
Originally, White Jazz was 900 pages, but his editor asked him to shorten it to 350 pages, which he did by removing all the verbs. http://www.ellroy.com/bibliography.htm
is told by protagonist
David Douglas Klein, years after the events have taken place:
and L.A. Confidential
, the book is told with one "protagonist" instead of three, reminiscent of the first novel, The Black Dahlia. It is told from Klein's stream of consciousness. After the reader is updated on LA's status, (Johnny Stompanato
's death, Mickey Cohen
, a probe set up on organized crime's influence in boxing, the political Battle of Chavez Ravine
which was the relocation of Chavez Ravine's residents in order to build the Los Angeles Dodgers
Stadium
, etc.) through the newspaper clippings, Dave Klein is introduced. He and his partner George "Junior" Stemmons are setting up a raid on a house with a bookmaking operation running inside.
Klein and Stemmons are later ordered to protect the witness in the boxing probe. However, Mickey Cohen called Klein earlier and told him 'Sam G' ("G for Giancana
") wanted the witness dead. Klein kills the witness, who has a mental disability, by throwing him out of a high window, making it look like an accident. The press headlines the story, "Federal Witness Plummets to Death," with a sidebar: "Suicide Pronouncement: 'Hallelujah, I Can Fly!'"
When Klein finally returns to his house, he reminisces on his life so far. Born David Douglas Klein, he is of German descent. His father Franz, arrived at Ellis Island
. He was raised by both parents, and has a sister named Meg. However, the father was abusive towards his sister, and Klein, while still at a young age, threatened to kill his father if he hurt her again. After the children become adults, their parents die in a car accident. Klein and his sister shared an "attraction" to one another, and after their parent's death, they almost slept together. Klein joins the LAPD in 1938. In 1942, he enlists in the U.S. Marines and serves in the Pacific
. and returns to the Department in 1945. Klein also studies law at University of Southern California
. However the GI Bill won't cover the costs for school. Klein must run other jobs, from collecting on loans, (earning him the name, "the Enforcer"), to mob work. Klein rises through the police rank to Lieutenant, passes the bar
, and secures his police pension
. However, Klein isn't released from mob work, which included several murders. Two personal murders were of the "Two Tonys
", Tony Brancato and Tony Trombino, who hurt Meg. He hides in the backseat of one of their cars and shoots them both in the back of the heads. In an attempt to get out of mob work, he begs the dying Jack Dragna
to let him go. Dragna doesn't, and Klein suffocates him.
Wilhite, of the corrupt Narcotics Squad, calls Klein later that night and ask him to investigate a burglary. The burglary is at the house of J.C. Kafesjian, sanctioned drug dealer of the LAPD. The crime scene consists of dead dogs, missing their eyes and poisoned with stelfactiznide chloride
(a chemical solution used in dry cleaning
), smashed records, and torn pedal pushers
covered with semen. Klein investigates as a favor to Wilhite.
In order to get liberal
Democratic
candidate Morton Diskant to drop out of the election for city councilman, Klein is ordered to blackmail Diskant. Klein receives assistance from Fred Turentine, and Pete Bondurant (who later appears in American Tabloid
and The Cold Six Thousand
). While the operation doesn't go smoothly, they successfully blackmail the married Diskant with another woman, and Diskant later drops out of the race.
Klein investigates the Kafesjian case with police work, forensic information, and other leads. Klein later gets a side job from Howard Hughes
, to obtain information on an actress named Glenda Bledsoe that would violate her full-service contract. Since there is a morality
clause
in her contract
, Klein merely needs to find proof that Bledsoe is an alcoholic, criminal, narcotics addict
, communist, lesbian
, or nymphomaniac. Hughes' reasons were she moved out of one of Hughes's guest houses, and left script sessions without permission. Klein sees through to the real motive for Hughes wanting her out. As Klein puts it: "'Guest home' meant 'fuck pad' meant Howard Hughes left to choke his own chicken."
During surveillance of Glenda, he finds out she, Touch Vecchio, Rock Rockwell, and George Ainge are planning a fake kidnapping
.
. "James Ellroy's latest book WHITE JAZZ makes previous detective fiction read like Dr. Seuss
."--San Francisco Examiner. "Ellroy's tenth novel burns with the memory of Rodney King
in its descriptions of unimaginably cruel law officers who are not merely tainted by corruption on a vast scale but pursue conventional police work as a sideline to more lucrative illegal activities that burst into the public consciousness in violent frenzies.... An undeniably artful frenzy of violence, guilt and unappeased self-loathing. Ellroy's crime fiction represents a high mark in the genre."--New York Newsday.
on October 31, 1997. In 1998, cinematographer
Robert Richardson signed on for what would have been his directorial debut with Fine Line Features
distributing. They put the project into turnaround in early 1999 due to budgetary concerns. In early December 2001, it was reported that "German-based VIF Intl. Films had come aboard to finance White Jazz, co-producing with Nick Nolte
's Kingsgate Films and L.A.-based production company Interlight. Nolte and John Cusack
were set to star in the film, with Winona Ryder
reportedly in discussions to join them. Nolte was to play Klein, Cusack to play Junior Stemmons and Ryder to play Hollywood starlet Glenda. Uma Thurman
was also attached to the project at one point and was to play Glenda. The screenplay was written by Ellroy and Christopher Cleveland. After the demise of the project, Richardson said "That's why directors go absolutely crazy – the development of a project is highly unpredictable and doesn't make tremendous sense. It may happen, but not in my time frame."
was set to star in a newly green-lit film adaptation of the novel for Warner Independent Pictures
. Clooney is also on board as producer along with his Smoke House partner Grant Heslov
. The film is to be written by Matthew Michael Carnahan
and directed by his brother Joe Carnahan
. Both Jason Bateman
and Peter Berg
have signed on to appear in the film. The script changes the Armenian
Kafesjian family in the novel to the Mexican
Magdalena family. Joe Carnahan said this of his brother's script, "It’s, to me, what that book always was – the point of departure from the Eisenhower
'50s to the psychedelic freakshow, Manson
'60s. It’s a total combination of the two with a heavy, heavy voice-over narration, this kind of classic noir." Carnahan has also confirmed that the characters of Ed Exley and Dudley Smith will not be in the film version despite their presence in the book, as Regency Productions has its own plans for a sequel to L.A. Confidential
and asked the director to remove Exley from his screenplay as they own the rights to the character. Instead, the Carnahans have constructed a "doppelganger" for Exley, "giving him all of [his] traits and speech patterns."
Carnahan described his vision of White Jazz as reflecting the "kind of mid-century explosion of art and music, and really letting that be the kind of guiding force behind it, as opposed to making it like this ... all 'period suits'. I really want to try to make it as accurate a reflection of L.A. at that moment in time as I can." He also commented on George Clooney's willingness to play an unlikable character for the first time. "He's made that very clear to me: 'I have no other desire than to play what's in that script.' And what's in that script is a pretty despicable guy at times, and pretty nefarious and nasty and selfish." Carnahan also touched upon how he trimmed down the novel's numerous subplots because "I always thought that as much as I love White Jazz, it became almost unfilmable at some point, because there are so many strands, so much, and it became so psychotic ... that's what made it such a great book, but those things would not carry over into the filmic realm, I thought, with ease."
Clooney has since dropped out of starring in the film due to scheduling conflicts with other projects. Chris Pine
, who was also up for a role in the film, decided to take on the role of James T. Kirk
in J. J. Abrams
' 2009 Star Trek film. Carnahan has stated that he will still make the film and has "a couple of options in terms of other actors that I am completely over the moon for."
Carnahan has completed the last draft of the screenplay.
1992 in literature
The year 1992 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Ben Aaronovitch - Transit*Julia Álvarez - How the García Girls Lost Their Accents*Paul Auster - Leviathan*Iain Banks - The Crow Road...
crime fiction
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by James Ellroy
James Ellroy
Lee Earle "James" Ellroy is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a so-called "telegraphic" prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, staccato sentences, and in particular for the novels The Black...
. It is the fourth in his L.A. Quartet
L.A. Quartet
The L.A. Quartet is a sequence of four crime fiction novels by James Ellroy. The novels, set in the late 1940s through the late 1950s in Los Angeles, are:* The Black Dahlia* The Big Nowhere* L.A. Confidential...
, preceded by The Black Dahlia
The Black Dahlia (novel)
The Black Dahlia is a neo-noir crime novel by American author James Ellroy, taking inspiration from the true story of the murder of Elizabeth Short. It is widely considered to be the book that elevated Ellroy out of typical genre fiction status, and with which he started to garner critical...
, The Big Nowhere
The Big Nowhere
The Big Nowhere is a 1988 crime fiction novel by James Ellroy, the second of the L.A. Quartet, a series of novels set in 1940s and 1950s Los Angeles.-Plot:...
, and L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential is a 1997 American film based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same title, the third book in his L.A. Quartet. Both the book and the film tell the story of a group of LAPD officers in the 1950s, and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity...
.
Lieutenant David Klein is a veteran policeman who moonlights as a hitman
Hitman
A hitman is a person hired to kill another person.- Hitmen in organized crime :Hitmen are largely linked to the world of organized crime. Hitmen are hired people who kill people for money. Notable examples include Murder, Inc., Mafia hitmen and Richard Kuklinski.- Other cases involving hitmen...
for organized crime. When he is assigned to investigate a robbery at the home of the Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
's (LAPD) sanctioned heroin dealer, he uncovers a plot to bring the city's crime syndicates into collusion with the channels of justice.
The stories of many characters that appeared in earlier L.A. Quartet novels, including Edmund Exley and Dudley Smith, have their ends tied up in White Jazz, which also introduces Pete Bondurant, one of the central characters in Ellroy's Underworld USA Trilogy.
Originally, White Jazz was 900 pages, but his editor asked him to shorten it to 350 pages, which he did by removing all the verbs. http://www.ellroy.com/bibliography.htm
Prologue
White Jazzs prologuePrologue
A prologue is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. The Greek prologos included the modern meaning of prologue, but was of wider significance...
is told by protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
David Douglas Klein, years after the events have taken place:
All I have is the will to remember. Time revoked/fever dreams-I wake up reaching, afraid I'll forget. Pictures keep the woman young. L.A., fall 1958. Newsprint: link the dots. Names, events-so brutal they beg to be connected. Years down-the story stays dispersed. The names are dead or too guilty to tell. I'm old, afraid I'll forget: I killed innocent men. I betrayed sacred oaths. I reaped profit from horror. Fever-that time burning. I want to go with the music-spin, fall with it.
Plot
Dave Klein is a Lieutenant in the LAPD's Administrative Vice unit and an attorney. Unlike The Big NowhereThe Big Nowhere
The Big Nowhere is a 1988 crime fiction novel by James Ellroy, the second of the L.A. Quartet, a series of novels set in 1940s and 1950s Los Angeles.-Plot:...
and L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential is a 1997 American film based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same title, the third book in his L.A. Quartet. Both the book and the film tell the story of a group of LAPD officers in the 1950s, and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity...
, the book is told with one "protagonist" instead of three, reminiscent of the first novel, The Black Dahlia. It is told from Klein's stream of consciousness. After the reader is updated on LA's status, (Johnny Stompanato
Johnny Stompanato
John "Johnny" Stompanato , also known as "Handsome Harry", "Johnny Stomp", "John Steele", and "Oscar", was a former United States Marine who became a bodyguard/enforcer for gangster Mickey Cohen...
's death, Mickey Cohen
Mickey Cohen
Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen was a gangster based in Los Angeles and part of the Jewish Mafia, and also had strong ties to the American Mafia from the 1930s through 1960s.-Early life:...
, a probe set up on organized crime's influence in boxing, the political Battle of Chavez Ravine
Battle of Chavez Ravine
The Battle of Chavez Ravine refers to approximately ten years of racist violence over the Mexican American community of Los Angeles' Chavez Ravine. The eventual result was the forced removal of the entire population of Mexican Americans, living in the community to make way for Dodger Stadium...
which was the relocation of Chavez Ravine's residents in order to build the Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
Stadium
Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium, also sometimes called Chavez Ravine, is a stadium in Los Angeles. Located adjacent to Downtown Los Angeles, Dodger Stadium has been the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers team since 1962...
, etc.) through the newspaper clippings, Dave Klein is introduced. He and his partner George "Junior" Stemmons are setting up a raid on a house with a bookmaking operation running inside.
Klein and Stemmons are later ordered to protect the witness in the boxing probe. However, Mickey Cohen called Klein earlier and told him 'Sam G' ("G for Giancana
Sam Giancana
Salvatore Giancana , better known as Sam Giancana, was a Sicilian-American mobster and boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957-1966...
") wanted the witness dead. Klein kills the witness, who has a mental disability, by throwing him out of a high window, making it look like an accident. The press headlines the story, "Federal Witness Plummets to Death," with a sidebar: "Suicide Pronouncement: 'Hallelujah, I Can Fly!'"
When Klein finally returns to his house, he reminisces on his life so far. Born David Douglas Klein, he is of German descent. His father Franz, arrived at Ellis Island
Ellis Island
Ellis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. It was the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with landfill between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the...
. He was raised by both parents, and has a sister named Meg. However, the father was abusive towards his sister, and Klein, while still at a young age, threatened to kill his father if he hurt her again. After the children become adults, their parents die in a car accident. Klein and his sister shared an "attraction" to one another, and after their parent's death, they almost slept together. Klein joins the LAPD in 1938. In 1942, he enlists in the U.S. Marines and serves in the Pacific
Pacific Ocean theater of World War II
The Pacific Ocean theatre was one of four major naval theatres of war of World War II, which pitted the forces of Japan against those of the United States, the British Commonwealth, the Netherlands and France....
. and returns to the Department in 1945. Klein also studies law at University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
. However the GI Bill won't cover the costs for school. Klein must run other jobs, from collecting on loans, (earning him the name, "the Enforcer"), to mob work. Klein rises through the police rank to Lieutenant, passes the bar
Bar examination
A bar examination is an examination conducted at regular intervals to determine whether a candidate is qualified to practice law in a given jurisdiction.-Brazil:...
, and secures his police pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
. However, Klein isn't released from mob work, which included several murders. Two personal murders were of the "Two Tonys
Anthony Brancato
Anthony Brancato was a Kansas City, Missouri criminal who served as a freelance gunman to various Mafia and syndicate organizations.-Early career:...
", Tony Brancato and Tony Trombino, who hurt Meg. He hides in the backseat of one of their cars and shoots them both in the back of the heads. In an attempt to get out of mob work, he begs the dying Jack Dragna
Jack Dragna
Jack Ignatius Dragna was an American Mafia member and Black Hander who was active in both Italy and the United States in the 1900s. He was active in bootlegging in California during the Prohibition Era in the United States...
to let him go. Dragna doesn't, and Klein suffocates him.
Wilhite, of the corrupt Narcotics Squad, calls Klein later that night and ask him to investigate a burglary. The burglary is at the house of J.C. Kafesjian, sanctioned drug dealer of the LAPD. The crime scene consists of dead dogs, missing their eyes and poisoned with stelfactiznide chloride
Chloride
The chloride ion is formed when the element chlorine, a halogen, picks up one electron to form an anion Cl−. The salts of hydrochloric acid HCl contain chloride ions and can also be called chlorides. The chloride ion, and its salts such as sodium chloride, are very soluble in water...
(a chemical solution used in dry cleaning
Dry cleaning
Dry cleaning is any cleaning process for clothing and textiles using a chemical solvent other than water. The solvent used is typically tetrachloroethylene , abbreviated "perc" in the industry and "dry-cleaning fluid" by the public...
), smashed records, and torn pedal pushers
Pedal Pushers
Pedal pushers are calf-length trousers that were popular during the 1950s and have seen a resurgence in the 2010s. Often cuffed and worn tight to the skin, they are related in style to Capri pants, and are sometimes referred to as "clam diggers"...
covered with semen. Klein investigates as a favor to Wilhite.
In order to get liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
candidate Morton Diskant to drop out of the election for city councilman, Klein is ordered to blackmail Diskant. Klein receives assistance from Fred Turentine, and Pete Bondurant (who later appears in American Tabloid
American Tabloid
American Tabloid is a 1995 novel by James Ellroy. The novel chronicles three rogue American law enforcement officers from November 22, 1958 through November 22, 1963. Each becomes entangled in a web of interconnecting associations between the FBI, CIA, and the Mafia, which eventually leads to their...
and The Cold Six Thousand
The Cold Six Thousand
The Cold Six Thousand is a 2001 crime fiction novel by James Ellroy. It is the first sequel to American Tabloid in the Underworld USA Trilogy and continues many of the earlier novel's characters and plotlines...
). While the operation doesn't go smoothly, they successfully blackmail the married Diskant with another woman, and Diskant later drops out of the race.
Klein investigates the Kafesjian case with police work, forensic information, and other leads. Klein later gets a side job from Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...
, to obtain information on an actress named Glenda Bledsoe that would violate her full-service contract. Since there is a morality
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
clause
Clause (disambiguation)
Clause may refer to:* Clause, a grammatical construct;* Clause , a disjunction of literals in logic;* Frederick Clause, surgeon, painter and early explorer of Western Australia....
in her contract
Contract
A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...
, Klein merely needs to find proof that Bledsoe is an alcoholic, criminal, narcotics addict
Substance dependence
The section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:...
, communist, lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, or nymphomaniac. Hughes' reasons were she moved out of one of Hughes's guest houses, and left script sessions without permission. Klein sees through to the real motive for Hughes wanting her out. As Klein puts it: "'Guest home' meant 'fuck pad' meant Howard Hughes left to choke his own chicken."
During surveillance of Glenda, he finds out she, Touch Vecchio, Rock Rockwell, and George Ainge are planning a fake kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
.
Critical review
The reviews for White Jazz were quite positive. "Blacker than noir... Makes most other crime novels seem naive."--Publishers WeeklyPublishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
. "James Ellroy's latest book WHITE JAZZ makes previous detective fiction read like Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss
Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist most widely known for his children's books written under the pen names Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSieg and, in one case, Rosetta Stone....
."--San Francisco Examiner. "Ellroy's tenth novel burns with the memory of Rodney King
Rodney King
Rodney Glen King is an American best known for his involvement in a police brutality case involving the Los Angeles Police Department on March 3, 1991...
in its descriptions of unimaginably cruel law officers who are not merely tainted by corruption on a vast scale but pursue conventional police work as a sideline to more lucrative illegal activities that burst into the public consciousness in violent frenzies.... An undeniably artful frenzy of violence, guilt and unappeased self-loathing. Ellroy's crime fiction represents a high mark in the genre."--New York Newsday.
Film adaptation
Ellroy said in a September 2009 interview that "White Jazz is dead. All movie adaptations of my books are dead".History
James Ellroy completed a draft of a 131-page screenplayScreenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
on October 31, 1997. In 1998, cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
Robert Richardson signed on for what would have been his directorial debut with Fine Line Features
Fine Line Features
Fine Line Features was the speciality films division of New Line Cinema. It produced, purchased, distributed and marketed films of a more "indie" flavor than its parent company...
distributing. They put the project into turnaround in early 1999 due to budgetary concerns. In early December 2001, it was reported that "German-based VIF Intl. Films had come aboard to finance White Jazz, co-producing with Nick Nolte
Nick Nolte
Nicholas King "Nick" Nolte is an American actor whose career has spanned over five decades, peaking in the 1990s when his commercial success made him one of the most popular celebrities of that decade.-Early life:...
's Kingsgate Films and L.A.-based production company Interlight. Nolte and John Cusack
John Cusack
John Paul Cusack is an American film actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 50 films, including The Journey of Natty Gann, Say Anything..., Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Red Line, Stand by Me, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, Serendipity, Runaway Jury, The Ice Harvest,...
were set to star in the film, with Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...
reportedly in discussions to join them. Nolte was to play Klein, Cusack to play Junior Stemmons and Ryder to play Hollywood starlet Glenda. Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman
Uma Karuna Thurman is an American actress and model. She has performed in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action movies. Among her best-known roles are those in the Quentin Tarantino films Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill...
was also attached to the project at one point and was to play Glenda. The screenplay was written by Ellroy and Christopher Cleveland. After the demise of the project, Richardson said "That's why directors go absolutely crazy – the development of a project is highly unpredictable and doesn't make tremendous sense. It may happen, but not in my time frame."
Current production
On November 30, 2006, it was reported that George ClooneyGeorge Clooney
George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...
was set to star in a newly green-lit film adaptation of the novel for Warner Independent Pictures
Warner Independent Pictures
Warner Independent Pictures was the specialty division of film studio Warner Bros. Entertainment. Established in August 2003, its first release was 2004's Before Sunset...
. Clooney is also on board as producer along with his Smoke House partner Grant Heslov
Grant Heslov
Grant Heslov is an American actor, film producer, screenwriter and director.-Early life:Heslov was born in Los Angeles, into a Jewish family and was raised in the Palos Verdes area of Los Angeles. He attended Palos Verdes High School, the University of Southern California along with friend Tate...
. The film is to be written by Matthew Michael Carnahan
Matthew Michael Carnahan
Matthew Michael Carnahan is an American screenwriter who wrote the feature films The Kingdom , Lions for Lambs and the film adaptation of both the hit BBC television drama serial State of Play and the novel White Jazz. Carnahan wrote the screenplay for Lions for Lambs for United Artists...
and directed by his brother Joe Carnahan
Joe Carnahan
Joseph Aaron "Joe" Carnahan is an American independent film director, screenwriter, producer and actor best known for his films Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane, Narc, Smokin' Aces and The A-Team...
. Both Jason Bateman
Jason Bateman
Jason Kent Bateman is an American television and film actor. After appearing in several 1980s and 1990s sitcoms including It's Your Move, and The Hogan Family, Bateman came to prominence in the early 2000s for playing Michael Bluth on Arrested Development, for which he won a TV Land, a Golden...
and Peter Berg
Peter Berg
Peter Berg is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is known for directing films such as Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom, The Rundown, Hancock and Battleship. He also developed the television series Friday Night Lights, which was adapted from the film he directed. As an actor...
have signed on to appear in the film. The script changes the Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
Kafesjian family in the novel to the Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
Magdalena family. Joe Carnahan said this of his brother's script, "It’s, to me, what that book always was – the point of departure from the Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
'50s to the psychedelic freakshow, Manson
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
'60s. It’s a total combination of the two with a heavy, heavy voice-over narration, this kind of classic noir." Carnahan has also confirmed that the characters of Ed Exley and Dudley Smith will not be in the film version despite their presence in the book, as Regency Productions has its own plans for a sequel to L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential (film)
L.A. Confidential is a 1997 American film based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same title, the third book in his L.A. Quartet. Both the book and the film tell the story of a group of LAPD officers in the 1950s, and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity...
and asked the director to remove Exley from his screenplay as they own the rights to the character. Instead, the Carnahans have constructed a "doppelganger" for Exley, "giving him all of [his] traits and speech patterns."
Carnahan described his vision of White Jazz as reflecting the "kind of mid-century explosion of art and music, and really letting that be the kind of guiding force behind it, as opposed to making it like this ... all 'period suits'. I really want to try to make it as accurate a reflection of L.A. at that moment in time as I can." He also commented on George Clooney's willingness to play an unlikable character for the first time. "He's made that very clear to me: 'I have no other desire than to play what's in that script.' And what's in that script is a pretty despicable guy at times, and pretty nefarious and nasty and selfish." Carnahan also touched upon how he trimmed down the novel's numerous subplots because "I always thought that as much as I love White Jazz, it became almost unfilmable at some point, because there are so many strands, so much, and it became so psychotic ... that's what made it such a great book, but those things would not carry over into the filmic realm, I thought, with ease."
Clooney has since dropped out of starring in the film due to scheduling conflicts with other projects. Chris Pine
Chris Pine
Christopher Whitelaw "Chris" Pine is an American actor. He has appeared in the romantic comedies The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement and Just My Luck , as well as the action films Smokin' Aces and Unstoppable . In 2009, he portrayed James T...
, who was also up for a role in the film, decided to take on the role of James T. Kirk
James T. Kirk
James Tiberius "Jim" Kirk is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. Kirk was first played by William Shatner as the principal lead character in the original Star Trek series. Shatner voiced Kirk in the animated Star Trek series and appeared in the first seven Star Trek movies...
in J. J. Abrams
J. J. Abrams
Jeffrey Jacob "J. J." Abrams is an American film and television producer, screenwriter, director, actor, and composer. He wrote and produced feature films before co-creating the television series Felicity...
' 2009 Star Trek film. Carnahan has stated that he will still make the film and has "a couple of options in terms of other actors that I am completely over the moon for."
Carnahan has completed the last draft of the screenplay.