October Murder with McBain
November Murder with McBain
December Murder with McBain
January Murder with McBain
February Murder with McBain
March Murder with McBain
Rob Holden: Howdy Evan, and welcome to the April edition of Murder with McBain! How have you been this last month?
Ed McBain: Fine and dandy. Working on Let's Talk, the book about my tonsils.
Natalie Collins: And how is that going?
Ed McBain: It's almost finished. Then all we need is a publisher. Dina and I are writing it on spec.
Natalie Collins: Do you have one in mind, Evan?
Ed McBain: I'll leave that to my agent.
Natalie Collins: Very good plan. Does your AGENT have one in mind?
Ed McBain: I haven 't asked her. She always likes to read the book first.
Natalie Collins: Sounds like a wise decision.
Rob Holden: That would certainly be helpful I imagine.
Ed McBain: It's more than some reviewers do! Read the book, that is.
Rob Holden: Okay -- this month our topic comes from one of our loyal readers: Nat, if you would do the honors ...
Ed McBain: Ta-ra!
Natalie Collins: Topic Suggestion from Richard S., on films: "I'd love to know which films he contributed to most fully, which ones 'worked' in his opinion, which ones he'd deny having seen, and in which ones were the cast 'something like' his own idea of the look and attitude of some of his characters. (Does he often have Raquel Welch in mind, now, for instance. Or is it just me?) You might also ask what's happening with Sadie When She Died and the series plan, if'n you dare."
Rob Holden: And with that, let's go to the movies!
Ed McBain: Where shall we start? One at a time, please!
Natalie Collins: How about, which film did you contribute to the most?
Ed McBain: Well, I wrote the screenplays for Strangers When We Meet, Fuzz and The Birds. We'll get into TV Land later, because I also wrote some mini-series. I suppose -- since I was working on Marnie while Hitch was shooting The Birds, and I was there -- my input on The Birds was greatest.
Natalie Collins: The Birds, a name everyone should recognize. I bet it was hard to choose, you've written so many!
Ed McBain: Well, not that many, really. And not all of them good. But you have to remember that what you see on the screen is rarely what the man wrote.
Natalie Collins: Which films do you think "worked?"
Ed McBain: Richard Quine directed Strangers just the way I wrote it. But it was a very glossy Hollywood-type film. Hitch took some liberties with The Birds (many of them GOOD liberties, by the way). Richard Whatever His Name Was, who directed Fuzz, took outrageous liberties!
Rob Holden: When writing a screenplay for a major film, how closely do you work with the director and producer and do you enjoy the process?
Ed McBain: Good question. I also wrote a film called Walk Proud (not my original title) where I worked very closely with the producer, Larry Turman (The Graduate). Normally, I don't like this sort of collaboration. A novelist works alone.
Rob Holden: Which leads into my next question -- how does screenwriting differ from writing a novel? Are the disciplines different?
Ed McBain: The only difference is time. You watch the clock in a screenplay (unless it's Lord of the Rings!). I enjoyed doing mini-series, because the clock wasn't as stern a taskmaster.
Natalie Collins: When I worked with Sundance, I discovered that producers are "money people" that can sometimes get involved where the directors and writers don't want them to. Did you find this to be true in your experiences?
Ed McBain: Larry Turman was enormously creative. He has tremendous respect for writers AND directors. Some producers have no concept of anything but budget.
Rob Holden:Let's move to the wonderful world of television, Evan. You have done a number of mini-series including The Chisholms, The Legend of Walks Far Woman and Dream West. How did that differ from your experiences in the movies?
Ed McBain: All westerns, you notice? From a kid born and raised in New York!
Rob Holden: I noticed!
Ed McBain: The Chisholms was based on my own novel, in turn based on characters created by David Dortort. I was approached to write the novel and the series. Alan Landsburg, the producer, was a marvelously creative man with whom I did a lot of TV work later. The director said, "Evan, if you make these few changes for me, I promise I'll shoot it just the way you wrote it." And he did!
Rob Holden: And were your other experiences as happy?
Ed McBain: With Dream West, the script was based on a novel by David Nevins. Good novel. I met with Richard Chamberlain, delivered the script, and then had nothing further to do with anything. With Walks Far Woman, the script was based on a not very good novel. Raquel had a difficult time with the director, who treated her like an extra, shame on him. The movie would never have been made if she hadn't agreed to do it! I always felt it was a precursor to Dances with Wolves -- the way it dealt with Indians, I mean. Honestly and openly and accurately.
Rob Holden: I believe that the 8-7 novels were once adapted into a TV series. Could you talk a little about that?
Ed McBain: Good actors, bad series. I wrote two or three scripts for it. They shot it on the studio lot, first mistake. In one script (not mine) Carella quits the force and becomes a bank guard! Can you believe it! It lasted one season.
Rob Holden: Have you been approached to try making it into a series again?
Ed McBain: Oh yes. Again and again and again. The irony of the 8-7 and TV Land is that all the imitators are successful and we never seem able to get it right! May I go on?
Natalie Collins: Of course.
Ed McBain: The closest we've come is just recently. A producer -- that's right, another truly creative man -- suggested that what was missing from previous tries was the voice that is in the books. The author's voice! The voice that comments on action, weather, characters, etc. So when I wrote the pilot, I invented a character called THE VOICE who does the commentary McBain does in the novels. And it worked! P.S. The option expired last month.
Rob Holden: For us non-TV people, what does that mean?
Ed McBain: It means all rights revert to me (again!) and we are free to take yet another shot someplace else. Any takers?
Natalie Collins: Okay, Evan, back to Richard's question about casting. Which roles and movies do you feel were cast well?
Ed McBain: Robert Lansing was a good Carella in the TV series. Norman Fell was a good Meyer in that same series. If non 8-7s count, Robert Preston and Rosemary Harris were magnificent in The Chisholms. No takers yet?
Natalie Collins: It's quiet in the cheap seats. Do you often have Raquel Welch in mind?
Ed McBain: I never have Raquel in mind. Haven't seen her since Walks Far Woman. Nice lady.
Natalie Collins: Does Richard seem obsessed with Raquel?
Ed McBain: You were the one who said it, Nat, not me.
Natalie Collins: Richard also mentions Sadie When She Died and a series plan. Is that going to happen?
Ed McBain: That's the option that just expired. We have some ideas on where to go next, but they're still in the formative stage.
Rob Holden: Evan, before we wrap this up, I'd like to know if any of your books have been made into movies adapted by other people and, if so, how they turned out.
Ed McBain: Chabrol did Blood Relatives with Donald Southerland playing Carella. Shot it in Canada. The book was TOO faithfully adapted, if you can understand that. Didn't seem like a movie at all. Kurosawa did High and Low, a wonderful movie based on King's Ransom. Don Westlake wrote a new screenplay on it, to be directed by Martin Scorcese. Never got made. A shame.
Rob Holden: Well Evan, Mickey's hand is on the remote control, so I think it is about time to wrap this up. Anything we didn't cover that you would like to address before we say goodbye?
Ed McBain: I could go on for six weeks about LaLaLand. Maybe another time.
Natalie Collins: Always stories to tell, arenšt there?
Ed McBain: Let us hope!
Rob Holden: In that case, it has been great as always and next month we'll be talking about ... whatever our readers suggest! Send your topics to readersroom2@aol.com.
Ed McBain: Thanks, guys. See you next time!
Natalie Collins: Goodbye Evan!
Rob Holden: Take care Evan!
Ed McBain: So long, Nat, Rob and everybody!
Copyright 2004 by ReadersRoom, LLC. All rights reserved.
