Joe Carnahan talks more on White Jazz

Next, Joe [Carnahan] is working on James Ellroy’s White Jazz starring George Clooney. “George’s decision to play a guy who murders an innocent man wontedly, with a great kind of violence 10 minutes into the movie - to have a guy that’s that much of a gamer as Clooney is. My approach to it is not going to be like L.A. Confidential. Well for one thing, if you think Smokin’ Aces is freaky, I don’t know what people are going to make of White Jazz because anyone who has read the book knows that’s a whack job of a book. I look at it and go ‘That’s f*cked up.’ I’m not really looking to invoke the movies of the ’50s or to shoot it like a period piece. I’m really going to shoot it in a much more fashion like NARC. Just to keep it loose and fluid and overlapping and messy and chaotic would be my approach like the book - shoot it like the book is written.” (Movie Web)

Berg and Bateman? White Jazz or not?

Several sites are reporting that Peter Berg and Jason Bateman have signed on to White Jazz citing an interview with Joe Carnahan at Ropes of Silicon as the source. Here’s what Ropes has to say… “Also, Joe Carnahan mentions he would love to have Berg and Bateman in White Jazz, it is NOT official. If you are going to report on a story be responsible and read. ” and here is the excerpt from the interview.

“You feel a bond and we’re all friends, I’ve been friends with Pete for years. My brother did Lions for Lambs, which Redford is directing right now and Pete’s going to play the general in it, the colonel giving them the brief in the beginning. I love it, and I know with White Jazz I’m going to put Pete in there somewhere too.” At that moment I also had to say there had to be room for Jason Bateman in White Jazz, “Totally!” he said, but more on that next week. (Rope of Silicon)

White Jazz

Joe Carnahan was a hot commodity in Hollywood when he signed on to do Mission: Impossible III with Tom Cruise. When the writer director quit over “creative differences” in the summer of 2004, his reputation cooled considerably…

He also has adaptations of Mark Bowden’s Killing Pablo and James Ellroy’s White Jazz on the go, confirming he will direct George Clooney in White Jazz, which is set to start next year. He may have more misgivings when he directs White Jazz, the Ellroy novel, a sort of film follow-up to the novelist’s L.A. Confidential, which was an Oscar- nominated Curtis Hanson adaptation. What I love about the possibilities is that Smokin’ Aces is like getting sent into war with the bazookas and grenades and the flame thrower,” says Carnahan, “and then going into a movie like White Jazz will be like someone handing me a paperclip and saying, ‘Fight your way out.’ ” Carnahan has other reasons to look forward to the White Jazz process. “No one has had a bigger impact on me creatively, and certainly writing wise, than James Ellroy. And the other great thing is the script defines a complete anti-hero,” he says. “I mean, George’s [Clooney] decision to [appear in the movie] is something, because his character murders an innocent man violently 10 minutes into the movie. “If people think Smokin’ Aces is freaky,” he continues, “I don’t know what people are going to make of White Jazz because anyone who has read the book knows it’s a whack job.” So forget about that overly reverential, slightly glamorous 1950s or 1960s stylish look. “I want to shoot White Jazz like an episode of Cops in 1958.” (Canada National Post)

Joe Carnahan on White Jazz

In the Future with Joe Carnahan , Director: White Jazz

“If things go well, I’m going to do something almost immediately with Reese Witherspoon, which will be a lot of fun and then I do ‘White Jazz’ at the end of next year with George Clooney,” Carnahan said. “My brother adapted it. I got to work with him on it. If this business will have me, I will continue to make films and not wait so long in between.” While Carnahan is excited about “Bunny Lake,” he’s really looking forward to White Jazz, based on the James Ellroy novel, as he is a huge fan of the author’s work. “No one has had a bigger impact on me creatively, certainly writing wise than Ellroy. So to be able to participate in something like ‘White Jazz’ is extraordinary knowing that something is very dear and near to James. It obvious has legions of fans to those books and trying to honor that and at the same time knowing there are certain things you need to contemporize and certain things that are not sacred.” In fact, he’s so into talking about it, that he told us about the style he’ll be taking with the thriller. The great thing about it is that the script really deposits a complete antihero. George’s [Clooney] decision to play a guy who murders an innocent man kind of wontedly and with a great kind of violence 10 minutes into the movie. My approach to it is not going to be like ‘L.A. Confidential.’” Carnahan says that “if you think ‘Smokin’ Aces’ is freaky, I don’t know what people are going to make of ‘White Jazz’ because anyone who has read the book knows that’s a whack job of a book. I look at it and go that’s f**ked up. I’m not really looking to invoke the movies of the ’50s or to shoot it like a period piece. I’m really going to shoot it in a much more fashion like ‘Narc.’ Movies have this tendency where they kind of shift in time or they take place in the ’50s or ’60s. There’s almost this need to make everything very glamorous. It’s just odd to me. Everything becomes very kind of fluid in this really overly reverential way. I don’t want to do that with ‘White Jazz.’ I want to shoot it like an episode of ‘Cops’ in 1958 just to keep it loose and fluid and overlapping and messy and chaotic would be my approach like the book. Shoot it like the book is written. (Coming Soon)

Interview: George on White Jazz

GEORGE CLOONEY PROMISES TO PISS PEOPLE OFF
12.03.06  By Devin Faraci  (Chud)

Last week it was announced that George Clooney would star in Joe Carnahan’s adaptation of the great James Ellroy novel, White Jazz. It’s a perfect fit of actor, director and material, and if the film wasn’t starting in 2008 I would be almost unbearably excited about it right now.  Yesterday I spoke with George Clooney at the junket for The Good German, and I had to ask him about the movie – would it be as dark and nasty as the book?

“It’s such a good screenplay,” he said. “I hadn’t read the book. Joe’s brother Matt wrote a screenplay that was just… It’s dirty, nasty, mean – there’s nothing nice about it. The one thing I’ve focused on over all these years is that if you’re going to get in it, it doesn’t mean you change it to wrap around you. You have to fit into that. It’s the way those things work. So yeah, I’ll piss some people off with that.” Clooney is excited to be working with Madman Joe Carnahan, and wishes the guy would direct more often. “Joe is, I think, a great director, and should be doing it more. I worry about really good directors not directing enough. It’s like I want Quentin to direct more. I know he has to take time off to do his thing, but I want to see him. I feel the same way about Joe.” The rest of the Clooney interview is coming in a week or so… and look for my exclusive interview with Joe Carnahan early in the new year.

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