I just throw these items in here after they've sat for awhile on the main page. If I didn't get an update, I didn't get an update. If the item is about a movie, it's three years later, and the movie still hasn't come out, it's probably safe to assume the project fell through. I leave it all in here, regardless.
Of course, if you've got an
update, please send it on.
10/21/06
Bill Kristol of The Weekly Standard and Fox News nominates Donald Westlake for the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Although I haven't read it yet, Duane Swierczynski's novel The Wheelman was recommended to me (and by extension, all other Parker fans) some time back by loyal reader Brian E. Here's a review that concurs.
The TV Movie A Slight Case of Murder starring William H. Macy, based on the Westlake novel A Travesty (included in the volume Enough), is now available on DVD.
Scott Smith, of A Simple Plan fame has written a screenplay that looks like it may be based on The Handle: "I did a screenplay of a Donald Westlake novel about a heist on a casino boat."
Status? Development hell.
10/18/06
Back after some computer difficulties, with some good news. I never thought I'd see the day, but it is now confirmed that Payback is being re-released in a director's cut, entitled Payback--Straight Up. Unless you are an obsessive collector of all things Parker, this should replace your grainy bootleg of the work print. An article on the creation of the music for this new version can be found here.
No word on the DVD release date yet, but if you are lucky enough to live in Austin, Texas (like me), you can see this movie Friday, October 20, at 7:30, with a question-and-answer session from Brian Helgeland. It's $35 (ouch!). I probably won't be able to go due to looming work deadlines, but if you can, info is here.
7/9/06
Here is the Washington Post review of Lemons Never Lie mentioned below.
7/8/06
The Hard Case Crime edition of Lemons Never Lie, with great cover art by Richard B. Farrell, should be in stores. The Washington Post has promised a review later this week. I will link to it when it is published.
That's all for the moment...e-mail
me if you've got news I've missed.
6/21/06
According to
Wikipedia, Brian Helgeland's
director's cut of Payback will
be
released
in
late
2006.
While
Wikipedia isn't
exactly
the
most
reliable
information source out there, the fact that the
DVD is out of print would indicate that there is something in the works.
This would be great news--the hard-to-find bootleg version of Payback is
the closest any filmed version of of a Parker novel has come to capturing the
spirit of the books. If anyone knows anything more about this, please
let me know. Thanks to reader
John.
6/18/06
Sigh. Apparently every horror movie ever made now has to be remade, and now it's The Stepfather's turn. I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that it won't be very good. Do yourself a favor and watch the Westlake-scripted original instead. In other news, Manos, the Hands of Fate is now the only existing horror film that hasn't been remade.
6/1/06
The Da Vinci Code in the style of Richard Stark. Thanks to reader Ethan.
5/11/06
Thanks to
reader F.F. for pointing me to the site of Westlake's
literary agency. Doesn't sound too exciting, you say? You'd be
wrong, because it's got the first peek at the plot of
Ask the Parrot.
The movie news at the bottom is old, though, so don't get your hopes up.
4/15/06
The new Parker novel, intriguingly titled Ask the Parrot, is available for pre-order at Amazon. The listed release date is November 23, 2006.
4/1/06
A couple of articles on Mr. Westlake. This piece is a fairly basic backgrounder for people who have never read a Westlake book, mostly focusing on the Dortmunder novels. This one is a review of Comeback, a few years later than expected.
12/27/05
Much thanks to reader Frederic for helping me complete my new Parker In France page. It's a great addition to the site, I think, and I couldn't have done it alone. Foreign readers are always invited to send me information and get their native tongues represented.
11/16/05
Rough draft of coverage of The Dame added. More to come.
11/09/05
Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley is back in yet another adaptation (not that I'm complaining!). The new one is Ripley Under Ground, and Donald Westlake co-wrote the screenplay. The early reviews are good.
10/18/05
I've added a new section: Not Quite Parker--Print. It is devoted to Parker pastiches, homages, references, and rip-offs in the print world. There's probably much that could be added to this--let me know if you've got suggestions.
11/07/05
There is a new French film, Le Couperet, based on Westlake's
novel, The Ax, which looks to be a Marxist take on the material.
Here's an
article about it featuring a short interview with director Costa-Gavras.
11/06/05
Girls, Guns and Money: Here's a short
CNN piece on the Hard Case Crime
imprint, which features some comments by Westlake praising the line. Stark
and Westlake are mentioned separately as authors published by Hard Case
Crime.
10/19/05
This one slipped past me--The Driver was
released on DVD on July 5, 2005, same day as Point Blank, which is
probably not coincidental. I just ordered my copy and am looking forward
to viewing it widescreen.
10/17/05
Donald Westlake announces on his Web site that Richard Stark is working on a new book. The working title is Ask the Parrot. I'm intrigued.
10/14/05
Point Blank Finally Comes to DVD
Point Blank was finally released on DVD on July 5, 2005. I promised way back when to write a new review when it was available in widescreen, so a new review is forthcoming.
Lemons
Never Lie back in print July 2006
The terrific Hard Case Crime
imprint (part of the inspiration for reviving this site--buy all of their releases) will reissue
Lemons
Never Lie in July of 2006, with a great new cover by Richard B.
Farrell. They have also issued Westlake's 361.
More, please.
1/14/02 (Publication Date)
From Variety:
While he awaits a studio for his "Bad News," Donald Westlake received good news for his most famous fictional creation, the character of Parker, the unredeemable but principled villain played by Mel Gibson in "Payback" and Lee Marvin portrayed in "Point Blank." The Parker novel series, which Westlake wrote under the pen name Richard Stark, has been acquired for series treatment by FX net entertainment prexy Kevin Reilly, who commissioned a pilot script. The project was set up at Fireworks by producers Dylan Sellers and Tom Lassally, with a script being written by Alexander Ignon ("Ransom"), who adapted the Westlake novel "The Green Eagle Score" for Sellers and Warner Bros., with Steve Norrington attached to direct. Westlake, whose other novel adaptations include "The Grifters" and "The Hot Rock," liked Ignos' work and blessed the series. It'll be an original caper for Parker, and will be written in the vein of "The Sopranos" and "Heat," with the idea that a massive heist will be perpetrated over the course of a season, the setup building over episodes until the actual crime is perpetrated.
As FX is associated with Fox, I would imagine that this will be in the vein of a bad-guy version of 24. I think that's a good thing. I'm very excited about this idea and hope it comes to quality fruition.
From Mysterious Press Buzz, March '99:
Donald E. Westlake (aka Richard Stark) and his representatives recently closed a three-book movie deal with Warner Bros., who negotiated on behalf of Joel Silver Productions.
Silver has produced an impressive array of thrillers and action pictures, from the "Die Hard" and "Lethal Weapon" series to "Predator" and "Demolition Man." He's been a fan of Stark for years, and feels that Stark-style noir is the wave of Hollywood's future.
The three books under contract are Backflash, The Man with the Getaway Face, and Butcher's Moon.
More news:
Joel Silver, who currently holds the rights to three Parker novels (see above), has hired Scott Smith, who wrote both the novel and the screenplay A Simple Plan, to script Backflash. If you haven't seen A Simple Plan, it's a fantastic movie and Smith's screenplay was nominated for an Oscar. I haven't read the book yet (although I have it), but a friend tells me it is terrific as well.
If the film doesn't get "Gibsonized" in the process, we may finally see a true-to-Parker film. A Simple Plan was a very dark film that made it to theatres intact, which gives me some hope. However, this must be weighed against the involvement of Mr. Silver, whose movies tend towards popcorn (admittedly pretty good popcorn) and who is also reputed to have given Mel Gibson a hand in castrating Payback. And, of course, just because someone is writing a script does not mean that a movie will actually be made. However, I am optimistic that the movie will be made and hopeful that it will at least be fun if not necessarily Parker.
Flashfire: The new Parker novel, Flashfire, will be published in October 2000.
John Travolta as Parker? A script by Alex Ignon (writer of Mel Gibson vehicle Ransom, supposedly pretty good) has been floating around, and Warner Brothers apparently has approached Travolta about the role. Can't say how I feel about this...I really liked Pulp Fiction and Face/Off but I thought Get Shorty was overrated (although I'm told I need to watch it again). To make it easier to swallow, think of him in crime roles rather than in Battlefield Earth (see it drunk, you might like it) or that one where he plays an angel. For more info and discussion, check out www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=5638