James Ellroy is no stranger to Hollywood, having had books like L.A. Confidential, The Black Dahlia and Brown’s Requiem previously receiving the adaptation treatment, but now it looks like another one of his novels is ready to make the jump from page to screen. VS Entertainment, which is owned by Vincent Sieber, has negotiated for and acquired the rights to Blood’s A Rover, which is the most recent Ellroy story to hit the stands.
First published in 2009, the period piece is set in the late 60s and follows the story of Joan Rosen Klein “who, against all odds, triumphs against her mobbed-up and politically connected foes to avenge her lost loved ones.” Her actions, however, result in changing the course of history for three men: Dwight Holly, who is best known as J. Edgar Hoover’s “strong arm goon;” a heroin runner building a gambling empire in the Dominican Republic named Wayne Tedrow; and a private-eye named Don Crutchfield. All three men find themselves in pursuit of Klien, and “each of them pay a price to live history.”
Deadline says that Sieber will serve as a producer on Blood’s A Rover along with Clark Peterson and Ellroy, who will be an executive producer on the project. Sieber most recently worked on the new Alex Proyas film The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag.
Said Ellroy in a statement about the project, “My most recent novel is — not surprisingly — also my best. The story is no less than the psychic inventory of America from 1968 to 1972. I have no doubt that Clark Peterson and Vincent Sieber will fashion a splendid motion picture from this noir epic.”
While Ellroy has had a number of adaptations made, his stories also have a bit of a mixed record in Hollywood. Curtis Hanson’s L.A. Confidential, of course, was an Oscar winning hit and hasn’t been damaged by time in the slightest, but Brian De Palma’s Black Dahlia was both shredded by critics and underperformed at the box office, making only $49 million internationally on a $50 million budget (before advertising and marketing expenses). Here’s hoping Blood’s A Rover falls more in line with the former than the latter.
