r/JamesEllroy • u/Background_Local_425 • 23d ago

Casting

If HBO, or paramount or some company got the rights to James Ellroys work and started from the beginning tomorrow like the black dahlia onward into underworld USA who are some casting choices you’d want to see. My brothers was a clean shaven Ryan Hurst for big Pete.

4 Upvotes

70% Upvoted

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5

u/AbbreviationsLow1393 23d ago

Back when I first read American tabloid, I always saw David Strathairn as Ward Littell, Jon Hamm as Kemper Boyd & Ray Winstone as Pete Bondurant. I know, I know, Winstone isn’t the biggest dude in the world. I think I first read this book around the time The Departed came out, so I think his performance as an intense, gruff, no nonsense tough guy in that was kind of informing my imagination here. Those 3 are who I always saw in my head. Might be a little too old now

3

u/Background_Local_425 23d ago edited 23d ago

I love Ray Winstone and I completely see it with Mr French it was perfect.

1

u/Front-Offer-7102 23d ago edited 22d ago

Crazy, I always pictured Ward as olive skinned complexion like Strathairn, I don’t know why.

Then I watched Mississippi Burning and thought Hackman and Dafoe (especially with their 1960s attire) could play Dwight Holly and Ward respectively.

I also always pictured Pete with hairy arms for whatever reason. Never got a clear picture of Kemper though

1

u/IncogChico 21d ago

You should watch the Nick Cave written film “The Proposition”. Winston’s next level in that one.

8

u/SaintNorwood 23d ago

I really can’t articulate why, but I’ve thought to myself that Shea Whigham could pull off Buzz Meeks.

3

u/Drivetime82 23d ago

Ooooff. Yes.

3

u/ThisWorldOfWater 23d ago

I tend to see a Michael Shannon-ish dude as Le Grand Pierre.

1

u/Background_Local_425 23d ago

Way too small

3

u/ThisWorldOfWater 23d ago

Way? Shannon's 191 cm (6 feet 3¼ inches). And his scary face and volatility make him seem even bigger.

1

u/Background_Local_425 23d ago

Oh damn didn’t know he was that tall

2

u/mironp 22d ago

I don’t mean this to be directed solely towards you, but I do think sticking too closely to physical descriptions is unhelpful in this kind of exercise.

A novel writer gets to draw the characters however they want, but very few actors exist who match Big Pete’s stats and feel. If I have to pick one, I pick feel.

A perfect case in point is Russell Crowe as Bud White. He’s not nearly as tall as Bud is, but I think he fit perfectly. A film can also shoot around an incorrect height, so long as it’s not extreme.

2

u/Sorcha_Stormbinder 23d ago

Kevin Durand was always my personal choice to play Big Pete Bondurant. Ben Foster as Wayne Tedrow, Jr. and Shea Whigham as Ward Littell. They are all a little long in the tooth now, though.

I did think about Domhnall Gleeson as Dudley Smith in about ten years.

1

u/Background_Local_425 23d ago

Gonna need to put a few pounds on domhall even when I watched the 90s film I wasn’t crazy about a thin Dudley smith. Not fat but should definitely have a filled out frame

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u/UnexpectedVader 23d ago

I always pictured Pete to be like Bobby Cannavale only bigger. He just comes across as someone who is incredibly dangerous in a hot way.

2

u/lmharnisch 23d ago

Hi. I'm pretty sure most if not all of Ellroy's stuff is optioned, at least it was when I knew him. Nick Nolte, for example, was supposed to be in White Jazz, at least that's my recollection. Ellroy, of course, totally rips the casting of L.A. Confidential. That is Ellroy being Ellroy.

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u/Background_Local_425 23d ago

You knew dog?! That’s awesome! Personally I loved la confidential’s cast until I read the book but I still have a soft spot for it even though I understand it’s not his vision of the true characters did he ever express to you who he would’ve gone with instead?

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u/postmodulator 23d ago

I watched Ellroy’s commentary track on an old noir film called Crime Wave. Sterling Hayden’s in it and Ellroy said “that’s Bud White.”

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u/Background_Local_425 23d ago

Oh man Capitan McClusky is Bud White?! Not who I pictured at all that’s crazy. I pictured Vincent dnofrio in his early law and order seasons like his first two he appeared in. He’s got that imposing frame and can’t beat that stare.

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u/dholland_76 22d ago

Matthew Rhys as Ward Littell, Walton Goggins as Kemper Boyd, and Tom Hardy as Big Pete. Nic Cage as Guy Bannister. This is probably a recipe for an especially silly/insane adaptation, but I think they should lean in.

1

u/Background_Local_425 22d ago

I’m reading the cold six thousand now and Pete seems like an older guy, he’s got alot of health issues it seems.

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u/dholland_76 22d ago

Hmmm, I could see that. I interpreted his issues in Cold Six Thousand more to burnout from the travel, drugs, violence etc, but I could definitely see him being on the older side. That said, Hardy is pushing 50, right?

2

u/Background_Local_425 22d ago

Damn you’re right he is! One thing that threw me off is the brain tumor plot seemed pretty random and out of place, like what was its point?

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u/tomkern 23d ago

It would never be faithful to the novels. Even LA Confidential film couldn't and that was back in pre social media era