Trouble is Clive Owen's Business

[Christa Faust]

From Variety:

Frank Miller takes on 'Trouble'
Clive Owen to star in Chandler adaptation

Universal Pictures and Strike Entertainment have set Frank Miller to adapt the Raymond Chandler novella "Trouble Is My Business" as a star vehicle for Clive Owen.

Strike partners Marc Abraham and Eric Newman are producing; Owen and Phil Clymer exec produce.

"Sin City" was Miller's first collaboration with Owen. "Trouble Is My Business" was chosen partly because it provides the actor with a similar chance to frame the narrative with a compelling voiceover, using Chandler's hardboiled prose as hard-drinking private eye Philip Marlowe cracks cases, busts heads and romances femme fatales in 1940s Los Angeles.

While many of Chandler's novels have been turned into films, "Trouble Is My Business" is virgin territory.

"Frank Miller knows more about noir than anyone I have ever met, and clearly the writing of Raymond Chandler has been an enormous influence on his life and his work," Owen said. "Miller adapting Chandler seemed like a perfect match."

Any thoughts, Crimespacers?

[Gerald So]

Miller certainly has the sensibilities to do Marlowe justice. My concern is Clive Owen. I haven't seen enough of him to know how he'd play Marlowe. I also don't like voice-overs in general. They've been done to death.

[Stephen Blackmoore]

I think Owen could pull off the character. He's able to do gritty with the best of them. I'm more concerned that Miller's going to try to turn it into another Sin City. Well, that and Owen's accent.

[Christa Faust]

Yeah, I wouldn't want to see "Trouble" turned into a hyper-violent cartoonish castration extravaganza like Sin City. Don't get me wrong. I like a good hyper-violent cartoonish castration extravaganza as much as the next guy, but that ain't noir in my book.

On the other hand I would like to see Miller take a swing at some real grown-up noir. And I do really like Clive Owen. I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

[Christa Faust]

Clearly, Ray, you are not looking at him with your estrogen goggles on. Which is a good thing.

[Amanda Stevens]

I agree completely.

[DADavenport]

Clive...Oh Yeah! 2009 may turn out to be a very good year for the Debster!

[Daniel Hatadi]

Not so sure about this, mostly because it's like Kevin Costner trying to do Robin Hood, with the accents reversed. Clive Owen is excellent at the stoic, "I'm just going to stare at you because I'm very stressed out" look, though, so as long as he doesn't say anything, and Norm Macdonald does the voiceover, it could be a hoot.

[Brian Thornton]

I couldn't help but notice that the over-whelming number of folks weighing in appreciatively on this subject were women. Coincidence? Nah.

And for the record, my mom took away my estrogen goggles when I moved into her basement after college.

I think Colin Farrell would be a better choice for Marlowe, but I don't have a large problem with Clive as ol' Phil. The big tripping point here is having FRANK MILLER script this. From what I've seen of the guy's comics/graphic novel work (and boy, is this going back), combined with SIN CITY, he and Nuance and Subtlety will not only never get into a threesome, apparently they're not even acquainted.

And Chandler's stuff (especially the short stories and the later novels) requires a deft touch, not a sledgehammer. I would love to see what someone like a Paul Bernbaum (HOLLYWOODLAND) could do with something like this.

I'm relatively sure that Chandler fans won't find this venture as objectionable as Altman's re-working of THE LONG GOODBYE back in the 70s, but you never know.

Oh, and Ray's right. Chandler's stuff isn't "noir." It's hard-boiled. Now Cornell Woolrich, Cain, Geoffrey Holmes? THOSE are noir.

[Jeremy Lynch]

I have seen nothing with Farrell that would lead me to believe he has the chops to play Marlowe.

Personally, I think that Miller will surprise a lot of people. He has a love of the source material and has been doing a lot of script work (both credited and uncredited) in the last few years.

I thought his Batman: Year one was killer.

[Kelli Stanley]

Well, I like Clive Owen. He was my favorite Bond candidate after catching Croupier. He's got the right amount of world-weary insouciance for Marlowe, and Chandler would probably have been pleased that a Brit will finally step into his character's shoes (he liked Cary Grant for the role). Unfortunately, Clive killed my enthusiasm when he praised Frank Miller.

Frank Miller? I was in the comic book biz. I know his work well. He even figures prominently in a presentation I'm giving in January on comics and classics. Here's my take: whatever Miller touches--noir, anime, ancient history (300)--he distills into a steroid shot of homoerotic and misogynistic puerility. Sure, it moves. Sure, there's action. Sure, there's an aesthetic of violence and a love of the grotesque. But anything else? Character, for instance?

Miller hasn't handled a good female character since Elektra (and of course he killed her). His works, to me, are adolescent excursions into pen-and-ink masturbation fantasies (and not very good ones, either). They're the kind of stuff the geek in the corner who never got a date would dream about while the other kids threw spit balls at him. Chandler? Please. Miller doesn't know noir. He only knows the fetish of noir. And he doesn't have the subtlety to understand hard-boiled. He's about as capable of the lyricism of Chandler as Bush is of writing a sonnet.

Chandler's women were complex, not cardboard. Think Vivien, Silver-Wig, Linda, Velma. And Marlowe is a lot more than sleepy eyes and a sneer.

OK, that's my rant. I realize I'm shouting into the wind. But I sure wish Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential) had gotten the call.

[Jeremy Lynch]

I am very curious to see how The Spirit turns out. That will answer a lot of questions for me.