InTheElectricMistWithConfederateDead Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Over the last 40 years, James Lee Burke has been busy penning mysteries, mainly starring a certain New Orleans police detective called Dave Robicheaux. Burke is known for writing mysteries in a "moral wasteland" littered with murder and crude characters -- the creme de la creme of society. In 1996 Burke first made it to the big screen with Heaven's Prisoners, a mediocre feature starring Alec Baldwin. After a number of years, Burke is finally getting a second cinematic adaptation as Chris Ullrich reported in November. However, there won't be a repeat performance from Baldwin, as Tommy Lee Jones is taking over the role. Sorry, Chris!

In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead is coming alive under the hand of French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier, and Polish screenwriter Jerzy Kromolowski. You might remember his last screenplay, the dreary, yet well-received, The Pledge. His experience with grim subject matter should help the picture since Burke is anything but a cheery writer with uplifting, positive portraits of humanity. In this mystery, Robicheaux wants to link a New Orleans mobster named Baby Feet, currently in town producing a Civil War film, with the murder of a local prostitute. When a corpse of a man that the lieutenant had seen murdered 35 years before pops up, Robicheaux is sure that the old and new killings are connected and tries to bring the mobster down. Jones has already hunted down fugitives, killers and aliens. This should be old hat.

Hollywood has quite a few places from which to draw ideas for movies. Comic Books, old TV shows, British films or remakes of older movies are among the most popular places for Hollywood to go. Another one of the most used and successful places is, of course, the bestseller list because Hollywood loves adapting novels to the screen -- especially if they have a proven story and a built-in audience who are already fans of the book. Sometimes, these adaptations turn out really well and go on to become successful films in their own right. Some excellent examples of this over the years include The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Godfather, Jaws, and Gone with the Wind.

Now, according to a recent piece at Production Weekly, a new film is gearing up to try and join the ranks of successful book-to-screen adaptations -- James Lee Burke's bestseller In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead. The film, which is being directed by French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier, of Round Midnight and the recent Holy Lola, centers on Cajun detective Dave Robicheaux who is tracking the murderer of a local Hooker and tie the crime to New Orleans mobster Julie Balboni who is in town producing a civil war epic. Convinced that Balboni is guilty of the hooker's murder and also may be responsible for a string of serial-killer-like other slayings, Robicheaux goes outside the law to nail him.

That does sound pretty interesting, doesn't it? I do like this kind of noir detective thriller. If they get the script right (which means finding the right writer), Tavernier is a talented director who has experience with this world and can turn this kind of material into a solid piece of filmmaking. Maybe they can even get Alec Baldwin to reprise his role? He was very good in the under-appreciated Heaven's Prisoners, also adapted from a novel by Burke, so why not? I think he would give the movie and even better chance of success. Pre-production is set to start next month in Louisiana with shooting to follow in March. No word yet on casting for the film but my fingers are crossed for Alec Baldwin.