It turns out James Ellroy is no fan of a certain film adaptation of one of his novels.
Ellroy appeared at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on Saturday, the day after he received the newspaper’s Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement. In a conversation with author Michael Connelly, Ellroy let loose on L.A. Confidential, the 1997 film based on his novel, Variety reports.
“People love the movie,” Ellroy said. “I think it’s turkey of the highest form. I think Russell Crowe and Kim Basinger are impotent. The director died, so now I can disparage the movie.”
Ellroy’s 1990 novel follows three Los Angeles police officers caught up in the aftermath of a mass murder. A reviewer for Kirkus had mixed feelings about the book, calling it “often stylistically irritating” but allowing that “there’s force and a bravura that demands attention along with editing.”
The film adaptation, directed by Curtis Hanson, was a hit with audiences and critics. It was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including best picture and director, and Basinger won the best supporting actress prize for the film.
Ellroy has commented less brutally on the film before. In a remembrance of Hanson published by Variety in 2016, he wrote, “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.”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
