Director David Fincher and writer James Ellroy sound like a match made in heaven. Fincher has produced some of the most memorable crime dramas in the past twenty years, while Ellroy’s credentials as a writer of 1950s-based noir novels cannot be disputed. It was really only a matter of time before these two came together on a project, and now they’re hoping to do it for HBO.
Fincher and Ellroy are currently in the planning stages of a noir crime show set in 1950s Los Angeles. HBO seems the perfect place for such a project, and apparently the pair have been discussing it with the network. Other details remain scarce on the ground, but it sounds like a solid idea to say the least.
This is not the first time that the pair have attempted to work together, either. Fincher was attached to the adaptation of Ellroy’s novel The Black Dahlia. His idea for a miniseries telling the story wound up falling through and Brian De Palma made the movie instead. But the director and writer have remained in touch, and it seems that they’re going to try to do something together again.
Fincher seems to be gravitating towards television at the moment, with two other projects coming up besides this one with Ellroy. One will be Utopia, based on Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn’s work, which is on a series order at HBO. The other is Mind Hunter, an older project about the investigation of serial killers. That one has been floating around since 2010, but it seems that Fincher remains dedicated to getting it made.
Given that David Fincher’s films often feel long enough to be TV shows, I’m hardly surprised that he’s looking towards television as a chosen medium. It is a different form of storytelling, but it allows for extended plot and character development over long periods of time. With the rise of networks like HBO, the opportunities for serious and R-rated crime dramas has certainly gone up.
We’ll let you know when we hear more about Fincher and Ellroy’s project, but remember that we do have Gone Girl to look forward to this fall.
