‘L.A. Confidential’ author James Ellroy thinks the movie version is a ‘turkey of the highest form’

Christopher Rosen
·2 min read
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“L.A. Confidential” author James Ellroy is no longer keeping his feelings about the film adaptation very hush-hush.

Speaking at the L.A. Times Festival of Books last week, Ellroy said that while many people “love” the Oscar-winning film from Curtis Hanson, he thinks it’s a “turkey of the highest form.”

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“I think Russell Crowe and Kim Basinger are impotent,” he added bluntly. “The director died, so now I can disparage the movie.”

Hanson died in 2016. At the time, Ellory wrote a remembrance of the filmmaker published by Variety that toed the line between praise and condemnation. “My strange and strangely gifted friend Curtis died earlier this week. His film of my novel ‘L.A. Confidential’ was a signature moment in my life. The signature was his, more than mine,” Ellory wrote in 2016. “Thus, this eulogy and post-mortem note of thanks for the splendid gift he gave me.”

Writing that Hanson’s films, in his estimation, weren’t something the viewer feels, Ellory added, “Curtis treated me respectfully and deferentially at all times. I responded in kind and did not meddle in the making of the film itself. ‘L.A. Confidential’ went on to be grandly praised and honored and is properly viewed as the finest American crime film of the era. I find the film problematic and emblematic of the Curtis Hanson disjuncture. What I failed to feel, I admired. What I lost in emotional pop, I regained in a rush of breathtaking craftsmanship.”

“L.A. Confidential” was released in 1997 to rave reviews and acclaim. The film helped launch the Hollywood careers of stars Crowe and Guy Pearce and gave Basinger a comeback role. She won Best Supporting Actress at the 1998 Oscars, one of two awards “L.A. Confidential” took home that night – the other being Best Adapted Screenplay for Hanson and Brian Helgeland. Overall, “L.A. Confidential” received nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. It lost that award to “Titanic.”

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