It’s been languishing in development hell for a decade, but Russell Crowe could revive 77, a project originally scripted by crime novelist James Ellroy, as a directing and starring vehicle. [/Film]
77 came into being as an original script by Ellroy, part of a development deal with Paramount. Now, Crowe is reportedly waiting on a new draft of the script by David Matthews, and is tentatively attaching himself not only to star but for the first time, direct.
Here’s an intriguing synopsis:
”two events from May 1974: the unsolved murder of Los Angeles police officer Mike Edwards and the nationally televised shootout in South Central Los Angeles between the LAPD and the Symbionese Liberation Army, as they exchanged more than 50,000 rounds of gunfire. The story will unfold through the eyes of a pair of police partners, one black and one white.”
The /Film article referred to “the only unsolved murder of a police officer in LA,” but what these events are more likely to depict is what happened when the LAPD were tipped off that the SLA – kidnappers of publishing heiress Patty Hearst – were holed up in an LA safehouse and brought down.
Given that these event’s took place in ’74, we can hypothesize that Ellroy’s story spins the real-life events out into a fictional zone (as in his novel The Black Dahlia, which became the much-maligned Brian DePalma film). I haven’t read any drafts of this, but I can theorize that something happens to the surviving cops in 1977 which brings past demons back to the surface.
This project has been around in different forms for some times. Ellroy pitched it to Law & Order producer Dick Wolf, who apparently dug it, calling it “one of the best pitches I’ve ever heard. He draws verbal pictures of the characters that are truly extraordinary, and obviously he can put them down on the page.” Ellroy’s website dates a development deal for 77 back in 1999.
Crowe is a finicky star and he’s had plenty of projects vanish once his name appears. I hope this one works out – his role in the streamlined adaptation of Ellroy’s sprawling L.A. Confidential put Crowe on the map. His sometimes ferocious energy could make this material something special.
What do you think of another pairing of James Ellroy and Russell Crowe? Does 77 sound interesting?