Di Caprio as Travis McGee

WELL, this is probably a good-news-and-bad-news situation.

Mike Fleming has just reported in Variety that the star of "titanic" and "the departed" has been attached to "the deep blue goodbye," the first of what could become a franchise of films based on john d. macdonald's travis mcgee series. HERE's my previous LAT piece on the project.

here's fleming:

"Chernin joins Appian Way's DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson-Killoran as producers on a project that has a strong draft by Dana Stevens ("For Love of the Game") that is drawing interest from directors. Amy Robinson is also involved in a producing capacity.
"DiCaprio is in line to play Travis McGee, a self-described beach bum who lives aboard the 52-foot houseboat The Busted Flush, and alleviates his
cash flow problems by hiring on as a "salvage consultant." He recovers property for clients, taking a hefty percentage and getting into a lot of danger and romance in sun-drenched Florida. "The Deep Blue Goodbye," the first of a 21 volume bestselling series, was originally published in 1964."

the goods news is, this brings us a little closer -- after decades of waiting -- to a real mcgee film. it also suggests the studio will spend money on it. decaprio is a real actor who's deepened in his recent work.

but doesn't he seem at least a little bit wrong? too young? too pretty? too sensitive? too internal for the raw-boned floridian?

readers let me hear from you!

Photo credit: Public domain

John D. MacDonald Vs. Hollywood

I CAME a bit late to the work of john d. macdonald, the floridian whose most famous character, self-proclaimed "boat bum" travis mcgee, has sold more than 40 million books worldwide. but these books, while light on the surface, are not only fun reads -- in some ways resembling detective novels -- they lay out an appealing and persuasive worldview that resonates in our uncertain times.

for decades people have been wondering why the 21 mcgee novels, which appeared mostly in the '60s and '70s, have never been successfully translated to the big screen. (especially baffling given how good both "cape fear" movies -- both based on jdm's "the executioners" -- are.) HERE is my sunday LATimes piece on what appears to be good news.

i'm still more a ross macdonald man (i like the psychological depth, chiseled writing and unobtrusive use of symbol in the lew archer novels), but john d. is far more than the literary jimmy buffett i'd sort of expected.

here's the way jonathan yardley put it in this very fine washpost assessment:

"This man whom I'd snobbishly dismissed as a paperback writer turned out to be a novelist of the highest professionalism and a social critic armed with vigorous opinions stingingly expressed. His prose had energy, wit and bite, his plots were humdingers, his characters talked like real people, and his knowledge of the contemporary world was -- no other word will do -- breathtaking."

this blog welcomes comments from those who know the mcgee -- and many other -- novels of this writer whose work has fallen into neglect of late.