I'm partial to Elmore Leonard, I've been reading him for more than 20 years. His books are just so damn hart to adapt, though.
Its probably because of Leonard's wit and style thats pretty much to mis-adapt. I still laugh at the idea that QT always thought the heroin in RUM PUNCH was a white woman. The same guy that can quote obscure-as-fuck Z movies from the 1940s, but not realize a certain little mistake like that? (or maybe he conciously changed it to just suit Pam Grier, and invented that story to excuse it. I wouldn't put it past QT.)
I tell you what was good, KAREN SISCO. Carla Gugino took over from Jennifer Lopez, and Carl is BETTER. She's legitimately tough and can handle herself quite well (which I can't say the same for J-Ho). Of course it was such a good TV show, it was cancelled by ABC.
But if it had aired on USA network, it would still be on TV. Hell, any awesome show these days are only on cable TV.
Hardly anything to argue with you about here, Ronnie.
You're right on about Gugino. And in fairness to Tarantino, Soderbergh made the same mistake. In OUT OF SIGHT, the novel, Karen was tall, blonde and "WASP-ish."
The reason that Elmore's novels are tough to adapt is because they're largely satirical. In satire the biggest laughs come from the narrative, not from the character dialogue.
I think you're right about Leonard's writings.
I think another reason that Carla is better than J-Lo is because with J-Lo, you expect Clooney to tap that ass. With Carla, if Clooney did tap her ass, it would mean that he really did seduce her (and more impressive) but whatever.
Then again, OUT OF SIGHT was the only movie that J-Lo did where she acted. A pity I guess that she squandered any goodwill from it and became the prima-donna bitch of Hollywood.
